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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:
A graph has at least three vertices. Given any three vertices AA, BB, CC of the graph we can find a path from AA to BB which does not go through CC. Prove that we can find two disjoint paths from AA to BB.

[A graph is a finite set of vertices such that each pair of distinct vertices has either zero or one edges joining the vertices. A path from AA to BB is a sequence of vertices A1A_1, A2A_2, ..., AnA_n such that A=A1A = A_1, B=AnB = A_n and there is an edge between AiA_i and Ai+1A_{i + 1} for i=1i = 1, 22, ..., n1n-1. Two paths from AA to BB are disjoint if the only vertices they have in common are AA and BB.]

Solution

Solution:
Take any path from AA to BB. Suppose it is A=A0A = A_0, A1A_1, ..., An=BA_n = B. We show by induction on rr that we can find two disjoint paths from AA to ArA_r.

If r=1r = 1, then take any vertex CC distinct from AA and A1A_1. Take any path from A1A_1 to CC which does not go through AA. Now take any path from CC to AA which does not go through A1A_1. Joining these two paths together gives a path pp from AA to A1A_1 which does not involve the edge AA1AA_1. Then pp and the edge AA1AA_1 are the required disjoint paths.

Suppose now we have two disjoint paths AA, B1B_1, B2B_2, ..., BsB_s, ArA_r and AA, BtB_t, Bt1B_{t - 1}, ..., Bs+1B_{s + 1}, ArA_r and we wish to find two disjoint paths joining AA and Ar+1A_{r + 1}. Take a path between AA and Ar+1A_{r + 1} which does not include ArA_r. If it also avoids all of B1B_1, ..., BtB_t, then we are home, because it is disjoint from the alternative path AA, B1B_1, B2B_2, ..., BsB_s, ArA_r, Ar+1A_{r + 1}. If not, let BiB_i be the first of the BB's on the path as we move from Ar+1A_{r + 1} to AA. This allows us to construct two disjoint paths from AA to Ar+1A_{r + 1}. One path goes from AA to BiB_i and then from BiB_i to Ar+1A_{r + 1}. The other path goes around the other way to ArA_r and then along the edge to Ar+1A_{r + 1}.

[Explicitly, if isi \leq s, then the paths are AA, B1B_1, B2B_2, ..., BiB_i, ..., (new path) ... Ar+1A_{r + 1} and AA, BtB_t, Bt1B_{t - 1}, ..., ArA_r, Ar+1A_{r + 1}. If i>si > s, then the paths are AA, BtB_t, Bt1B_{t - 1}, ..., BiB_i, ..., (new path) ... Ar+1A_{r + 1} and AA, B1B_1, ..., BsB_s, ArA_r, Ar+1A_{r + 1}.]

Hence, by induction, there are two disjoint paths from AA to BB.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.