Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/iii/paper-12/3/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 12 3 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and . Use the configuration model: give vertex exactly labelled half-edges and choose a uniform perfect matching of all half-edges. There arepairings, with denoting a falling factorial. Each allowed simple graph has exactly representations: at every vertex, assign its incident graph edges bijectively to its labelled half-edges. Therefore its enumeration reduces to the probability that a pairing is simple and avoids .
Count three kinds of prescribed bad patterns. A loop pattern consists of a pair of half-edges at one vertex. A double-edge pattern consists of two half-edges at each of two distinct vertices and one of their two cross-pairings. A forbidden-edge pattern consists of one half-edge at each endpoint of an edge of . Let their respective counts in the random pairing be . Simplicity and avoidance are equivalent to , including exclusion of triple edges because those contain double-edge patterns.
A prescribed collection of disjoint half-edge pairs occurs with probabilityConsequently the bad-pattern expected values areHere and , as in the PDF. Since and has bounded maximum degree, and all three means are uniformly bounded. For the double-edge estimate, , so its contribution after division by is .
We now give the moment-counting step rather than assume independence. For each fixed , expand the factorial moment as the sum over ordered distinct bad patterns. Collections on disjoint vertex sets have, by the displayed pairing probability, joint probabilities equal to the product probabilities times . Their total contribution isDeleting collections with a shared vertex changes the independent-product sum by , since all ordinary and forbidden vertex degrees are bounded.
For actual joint probabilities of overlapping patterns, incompatible uses of a half-edge give zero. Compatible collections with no shared paired edge lose at least one free vertex choice, without reducing the number of required pairs, so contribute . A shared paired edge can occur only between two double-edge patterns or between a double-edge pattern and a forbidden-edge pattern. In the first case their union requires at least three parallel paired edges: there are endpoint choices and probability . In the second case the endpoint pair must be an edge of : there are only choices and at least two required pairs, giving . Adding further patterns in a fixed collection does not remove this deficit: a disjoint addition contributes bounded order, while an addition to an existing cluster has only bounded half-edge choices unless it supplies new free vertices, compensated by its new required pairs. Summing the finitely many overlap types for fixed therefore gives . Thus, with ,The Bonferroni inequalities bracket by the odd and even partial sums of . The means are bounded, so the corresponding exponential-series remainders vanish uniformly as the truncation increases. Taking and then the truncation to infinity proves the bounded-degree pairing avoidance estimate . This does not require or to converge. The exponential is bounded away from zero, so the additive error is also a relative error.
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