Between the states of Alinaesquina and Berlinda, each road connects one city of Alinaesquina to one city of Berlinda. All the roads are in two-ways, and between any two cities, it is possible to travel from one to the other, using only these (possibly more than one) roads. Furthermore, it is known that, from any city of anyone of the two states, the same number of $k$ roads are going out. We know that $k\geq 2$. Prove that governments of the states can close anyone of the roads, and there will still be a route (possibly through several roads) between any two cities.
Problem
Source: Brazil Cono Sur TST 2020
Tags: combinatorics
17.11.2020 05:40
This is saying that if $G$ is a connected regular bipartite graph in which each vertex has degree $\geq 2$, and if $e$ is an edge of $G$, then $G \setminus e$ (that is, the graph obtained from $G$ by removing $e$) is still connected. The quickest way to do this might be the following one: A famous corollary of Hall's marriage theorem shows that any regular bipartite graph can be decomposed into perfect matchings. Thus, $G$ can be decomposed into at least $2$ perfect matchings (at least $2$ because each vertex has degree $\geq 2$). Let us decompose $G$ in this way, and pick two of these perfect matchings, one of which contains $e$. But the union of two perfect matchings is always a disjoint union of cycles (another known fact). Thus we conclude that $e$ belongs to a cycle of $G$. This entails that $G \setminus e$ is still connected.
17.11.2020 10:51
A more direct approach. Let $G(A,B)$ be the corresponding bipartite graph and we remove an edge $e=a_0\,b_0\,, a_0\in A, b_0\in B$. Suppose on the contrary, the resulting graph is not connected and let $G_0(A_0,B_0)$ be its connected component containing $a_0$ i.e. $a_0\in A_0$. Then $b_0\notin B_0$ otherwise there would be a path from $a_0$ to $b_0$ in $G_0$. Since there are no edges connecting vertices of $G_0$ with vertices outside $G_0$, the degrees of all vertices in $G_0(A_0,B_0)$ are $k$ except $a_0$ which degree is $k-1$. Let $|A_0|=n, |B_0|=m$. By counting edges in $G_0$ we get $$nk-1=mk\quad (*)$$But in case $m\ge n$ the RHS of $(*)$ is greater than the LHS, and in case $m<n$ the LHS is greater (because $k\ge 2$). Hence, there is no chance $(*)$ to hold, contradiction.