Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 4 17H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the vertex degrees and let count common neighbours of distinct vertices. Count unoriented length-two paths by their centre or endpoints:If no four-cycle occurs, , so . By Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, . Solving givesIf , the same bound and monotonicity of in this range give (the small cases are immediate). Every pair of common neighbours supplies a four-cycle, counted twice through its two opposite vertex pairs, so four-cycle counting by common neighbours givesLet and . Convexity of gives . For , this function is increasing on the needed range, givingFor the printed right-hand side is nonpositive and the conclusion is trivial. At the printed cycle bound is false: a single edge meets the edge hypothesis but has no four-cycles, while the right-hand side is . Thus this particular bound needs the intended restriction; the other counting statements above do not have this defect.
On four chosen vertices there are three distinct cycle subgraphs, each present with probability in the stated random graph. Extra edges do not destroy these subgraphs. ThereforeFor positive expectation, Markov inequality giveswhen . If , the cycle count is identically zero and the requested event has probability one.