Edge-graceful labeling


In graph theory, an edge-graceful labeling is a type of graph labeling for simple, connected graphs in which no two distinct edges connect the same two distinct vertices and no edge connects a vertex to itself.
Edge-graceful labelings were first introduced by Sheng-Ping Lo in his seminal paper.

Definition

Given a graph, we denote the set of its edges by and that of its vertices by. Let be the cardinality of and be that of. Once a labeling of the edges is given, a vertex of the graph is labeled by the sum of the labels of the edges incident to it, modulo. Or, in symbols, the induced labeling on a vertex is given by
where is the resulting value for the vertex and is the existing value of an edge incident to.
The problem is to find a labeling for the edges such that all the labels from to are used once and that the induced labels on the vertices run from to. In other words, the resulting set of labels for the edges should be, each value being used once, and that for the vertices should be.
A graph is said to be edge-graceful if it admits an edge-graceful labeling.

Examples

Cycles

Consider the cycle with three vertices,. This is simply a triangle. One can label the edges 1, 2, and 3, and check directly that, along with the induced labeling on the vertices, this gives an edge-graceful labeling. Similar to paths, is edge-graceful when is odd and not when is even.

Paths

Consider a path with two vertices,. Here the only possibility is to label the only edge in the graph 1. The induced labeling on the two vertices are both 1. So is not edge-graceful.
Appending an edge and a vertex to gives, the path with three vertices. Denote the vertices by,, and. Label the two edges in the following way: the edge is labeled 1 and labeled 2. The induced labelings on,, and are then 1, 0, and 2 respectively. This is an edge-graceful labeling and so is edge-graceful.
Similarly, one can check that is not edge-graceful.
In general, is edge-graceful when is odd and not edge-graceful when it is even. This follows from a necessary condition for edge-gracefulness.

A necessary condition

Lo gave a necessary condition for a graph with edges and vertices to be edge-graceful: must be congruent to. In symbols:
This is referred to as Lo's condition in the literature. This follows from the fact that the sum of the labels of the vertices is twice the sum of the edges, modulo. This is useful for disproving a graph is edge-graceful. For instance, one can apply this directly to the path and cycle examples given above.

Further selected results