Graph Theory

Graph Theory, Spring 2026

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Class Info

Syllabus
Textbook: Introduction to Graph Theory (2nd Edition) by Douglas B. West
Meeting times: Monday and Thursday at 10-11:50am in LOW 3051
No Class: Jan 19; Feb 16 => Yes class on Feb 17
Last Class: April 27th

Course Instructor:
Prof. George M. Slota (slotag@rpi.edu)
Office Hours: Monday/Thursday at 2-3pm in 317 Lally and by appointment
Webex: https://rensselaer.webex.com/meet/slotag

Teaching Assistant:
Samantha Sussman-Randall (sussms@rpi.edu)
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30-5:30pm, Friday 11:30am-12:30pm in AE 118
Webex: https://rensselaer.webex.com/meet/sussms

Mentors:
Anthony Fabius (fabiua@rpi.edu)
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3pm, Wednesday 4-5pm in AE 118
Webex: https://rensselaer.webex.com/meet/fabiua

Lecture Notes and Readings

Note: Class schedule subject to (and likely will) change.
Note 2: Linked videos are included for your convenience, but they are relatively outdated and should not be used as a replacement for attending lectures.

Week	Date	Topic	Readings	Notes
1	12 Jan	Introduction to Graphs, Definitions	West ch. 1.1	Intro Slides \| Lecture 1 \| Notes \| Intro Code \| Test Graph \| Video
	15 Jan	Isomorphism, Subraphs	West ch. 1.1-1.2	Lecture 2 \| Notes \| Video
2	19 Jan	MLK Day: No class
	22 Jan	Decompositions, Walks, Induction	West ch. 1.2	Lecture 3 \| Notes \| Video
3	26 Jan	Snow Day
	29 Jan	Proof Techniques, Eulerian Circuits	West ch. 1.3	Lecture 4 \| Notes \| Video
4	2 Feb	Degrees, Graphic Sequences, Directed Graphs	West ch. 1.4	Lecture 5 \| Notes \| Video
	5 Feb	Trees	West ch. 2.1	Lecture 6 \| Notes \| Bag o' Tricks \| Video
5	9 Feb	Tree Enumeration and Graceful Graphs	West ch. 2.2	Lecture 7 \| Notes \| Video
	12 Feb	Tree Algorithms	West ch. 2.3	Lecture 8 \| Notes \| Video
6	1617 Feb	Bipartite Matching (Note: Tuesday class)	West ch. 3.1-3.2	Lecture 9 \| Notes \| Video
	19 Feb	General Matching, Covers, Independent Sets	West ch. 3.3	Lecture 10 \| Notes \| Video
7	23 Feb	In class review	West ch. 1-3	Practice Exam \| Solution \| Study Sheet \| Crib Sheet \| TA+Slota Review
	26 Feb	In-class exam	West ch. 1-3
8	2 Mar	Spring Break
	5 Mar	Spring Break
9	9 Mar	Connectivity	West ch. 4.1	Lecture 11 \| Notes \| Video
	12 Mar	2-connectivity, Biconnectivity	West ch. 4.2	Lecture 12 \| Notes \| Video
10	16 Mar	k-connectivity	West ch. 4.2	Lecture 13 \| Notes \| Video
	19 Mar	Network flow	West ch. 4.3	Lecture 14 \| Notes \| Video
11	23 Mar	Vertex Coloring	West ch. 5.1	Lecture 15 \| Notes \| Video
	26 Mar	More Coloring	West ch. 5.2	Lecture 16 \| Notes \| Video
12	30 Mar	EVEN MORE COLORING, Perfect Graphs	West ch. 5.3	Lecture 17 \| Notes \| Video
	2 Apr	Planarity	West ch. 6.1	Lecture 18 \| Notes \| Video
13	6 Apr	Kuratowski's Theorem	West ch. 6.2	Lecture 19 \| Notes \| Video
	9 Apr	Coloring of Planar Graphs	West ch. 6.3	Lecture 20 \| Notes \| Video
14	13 Apr	Line Graphs, Edge Coloring	West ch. 7.1	Lecture 21 \| Notes \| Video
	16 Apr	Hamiltonian Graphs	West ch. 7.2	Lecture 22 \| Notes \| Video
15	20 Apr	Random Graphs		Lecture 23 \| Notes \| Video
	23 Apr	Special Topic: PageRank		Lecture 24 \| Notes \| Code \| Data \| Video
16	27 Apr	Final Review	West ch. 1-7	Practice Exam \| Solution \| Study Sheet \| Crib Sheet \| Review
	30 Apr	No class: Study Day
17	5 May	Final Exam	West ch. 1-7	Time 11:30a-2:30p. Room: DCC 330

Weekly Problems

WPs will be assigned most weeks, with some amount of class time designated to work on them. You can (and should!) work together on these problems. Late WPs will be accepted in accordance with the policy in the syllabus.

WP #	Due Date	WP	Solution
1	15 Jan	WP 1	Solution
2	22 Jan	WP 2	Solution
3	29 Jan	WP 3	Solution
4	5 Feb	WP 4	Solution
5	12 Feb	WP 5	Solution
6	12 Mar	WP 6	Solution
7	19 Mar	WP 7	Solution
8	26 Mar	WP 8	Solution
9	2 Apr	WP 9	Solution
10	9 Apr	WP 10	Solution
11	16 Apr	WP 11	Solution
12	23 Apr	WP 12	Solution

Homework

Homeworks due at MIDNIGHT EST on the due date. Collaboration is allowed on homeworks, but you must do your own work. Late homeworks will be accepted in accordance with the policy in the syllabus.

HW #	Due Date	Homework	Solution
1	6 Feb	HW 1	Solution
2	13 Feb	HW 2	Solution
3	20 Feb	HW 3	Solution
4	23 Mar	HW 4	Solution
5	3 Apr	HW 5	Solution
6	13 Apr	HW 6	Solution
7	24 Apr	HW 7	Solution