Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/ii/paper-4/17g/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 4 17G Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Hall marriage theorem states that a bipartite graph with parts has a matching saturating iff for every . Starting with a maximum matching, an unmatched vertex and its alternating reachable set would violate Hall unless an augmenting path exists; flipping along that path increases the matching, proving sufficiency.
Every vertex cover meets each edge of a matching, so . Endpoints of a maximal matching cover every edge, so . A disjoint union of triangles has . For , and . In bipartite graphs the alternating-path proof constructs a cover of size equal to a maximum matching, giving König theorem.
The chromatic index is the minimum number of matchings partitioning the edges. Label vertices of by the vector space over ; for each nonzero , pair with . These perfect matchings partition all edges, while degree gives the matching lower bound, so .
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