Related papers: Longest winning paths in Hex

Let D be a Dyck path chosen uniformly from the set of Dyck paths with 2n steps. We prove that the sequence of the exponential moments of the maximum of D normalized by the square root of n converges in the limit of infinite n, and therefore…

In his list of open problems, Martin Erickson described a certain game: "Two players alternately put queens on an n x n chess board so that each new queen is not in range of any queen already on the board (the color of the queens is…

We give a polynomial-time algorithm that, with input a graph $G$ and two vertices $u,v$ of $G$, decides whether there is an induced $uv$-path that is longer than the shortest $uv$-path.

How many points can be placed in an $n\times n$ grid so that every (affine) line contains at most $k$ points? We prove that for $n \ge k \ge 10^{37}$ the maximum number of points is exactly $kn$. Our proof builds on the recent work of…

For a family of graphs $\mathcal{F}$, the Tur\'{a}n number $ex(n,\mathcal{F})$ is the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph containing no member of $\mathcal{F}$ as a subgraph. The maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex connected…

For a planar graph $H$, let $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,H)$ denote the maximum number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex planar graph. In this paper, we prove that $\operatorname{\mathbf{N}}_{\mathcal P}(n,P_7)\sim{4\over…

Fastest-path queries between two points in a very large road map is an increasingly important primitive in modern transportation and navigation systems, thus very efficient computation of these paths is critical for system performance and…

This paper is about the length $X_{\rm MAX}$ of the longest path in directed acyclic graph (DAG) $G=(V,E)$ with random edge lengths, where $|V|=n$ and $|E|=m$. When the edge lengths are mutually independent and uniformly distributed, the…

For an orientation $H$ with $n$ vertices, let $T(H)$ denote the maximum possible number of labeled copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex tournament. It is easily seen that $T(H) \ge n!/2^{e(H)}$ as the latter is the expected number of such copies…

A covering path for a finite set $P$ of points in the plane is a polygonal path such that every point of $P$ lies on a segment of the path. The vertices of the path need not be at points of $P$. A covering path is plane if its segments do…

What is the maximum number of points that can be selected from an $n \times n$ square lattice such that no $k+1$ of them are in a line? This has been asked more than $100$ years ago for $k=2$ and it remained wide open ever since. In this…

It is shown that one can count $k$-edge paths in an $n$-vertex graph and $m$-set $k$-packings on an $n$-element universe, respectively, in time ${n \choose k/2}$ and ${n \choose mk/2}$, up to a factor polynomial in $n$, $k$, and $m$; in…

We introduce a general method for obtaining fixed-parameter algorithms for problems about finding paths in undirected graphs, where the length of the path could be unbounded in the parameter. The first application of our method is as…

The Snake-in-the-Box problem is that of finding a longest induced path in an $n$-dimensional hypercube. We prove new lower bounds for the values $n\in \{11,12,13\}$. The Coil-in-the-Box problem is that of finding a longest induced cycle in…

We make progress toward a characterization of the graphs $H$ such that every connected $H$-free graph has a longest path transversal of size $1$. In particular, we show that the graphs $H$ on at most $4$ vertices satisfying this property…

Let $H$ be a graph. The generalized outerplanar Tur\'an number of $H$, denoted by $f_{\mathcal{OP}}(n,H)$, is the maximum number of copies of $H$ in an $n$-vertex outerplanar graph. Let $P_k$ be the path on $k$ vertices. In this paper we…

Let a deck of n cards be shuffled by successively exchanging the cards in positions 1, 2, ..., n with cards in randomly chosen positions. We show that for n equal to 18 or greater, the identity permutation is the most likely. We prove a…

Given integers $k,j$ with $1\le j \le k-1$, we consider the length of the longest $j$-tight path in the binomial random $k$-uniform hypergraph $H^k(n,p)$. We show that this length undergoes a phase transition from logarithmic length to…

For vertices $u$ and $v$ of an $n$-vertex graph $G$, a $uv$-trail of $G$ is an induced $uv$-path of $G$ that is not a shortest $uv$-path of $G$. Berger, Seymour, and Spirkl [Discrete Mathematics 2021] gave the previously only known…

We consider a game in which a cop searches for a moving robber on a graph using distance probes, which is a slight variation on one introduced by Seager. Carragher, Choi, Delcourt, Erickson and West showed that for any n-vertex graph $G$…