Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-probability-statistics-and-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2011/r/r2/a/i/solution
Past exam of the Probability, statistics and options II course of the University of Oxford 2011 R R2 a i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Suppose a graph satisfying Ore's theorem were not Hamiltonian. Extend it, on the same vertices, to an edge-maximal non-Hamiltonian graph . Adding edges preserves the degree-sum hypothesis. The complete graph is Hamiltonian, so has a missing edge . By maximality, has a Hamiltonian cycle, which must use the new edge. Removing it gives a Hamiltonian path in , labelled .
If some has both edges and , the path can be closed into the cyclecontradicting the choice of . Thus the index sets and are disjoint subsets of . Their sizes are and . Consequently , contradicting the degree-sum condition for the nonadjacent pair . Hence the original graph is Hamiltonian.
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