English

On the extrema of the mean subtree order of graphs

Combinatorics 2025-08-29 v1

Abstract

It has been conjectured that the minimum and maximum of the mean subtree order among connected graphs of order nn are attained by the path PnP_n and clique KnK_n, respectively. Extending ideas due to Haslegrave and Vince, we confirm that the minimum is indeed attained by PnP_n. On the other hand, we discuss different approaches (both promising and flawed) that could lead to a proof of the extremality of KnK_n.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.20593,
  title  = {On the extrema of the mean subtree order of graphs},
  author = {Stijn Cambie and Jorik Jooken and Stephan Wagner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.20593},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

17 pages, 3 figures