Dense graph

In mathematics, a dense graph is a graph in which the number of edges is close to the maximal number of edges. The opposite, a graph with only a few edges, is a sparse graph. The distinction between sparse and dense graphs is rather vague, and depends on the context.

For undirected simple graphs, the graph density is defined as:

For directed simple graphs, the graph density is defined as:

where E is the number of edges and V is the number of vertices in the graph. The maximum number of edges for an undirected graph is ½ |V| (|V|−1), so the maximal density is 1 (for complete graphs) and the minimal density is 0 (Coleman & Moré 1983).

Upper density is an extension of the concept of graph density defined above from finite graphs to infinite graphs. Intuitively, an infinite graph has arbitrarily large finite subgraphs with any density less than its upper density, and does not have arbitrarily large finite subgraphs with density greater than its upper density. Formally, the upper density of a graph G is the infimum of the values α such that the finite subgraphs of G with density α have a bounded number of vertices. It can be shown using the Erdős–Stone theorem that the upper density can only be 1 or one of the superparticular ratios 0, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 4/5, ... n/(n + 1), ... (see, e.g., Diestel, p. 189).

Lee & Streinu (2008) and Streinu & Theran (2009) define a graph as being (k,l)-sparse if every nonempty subgraph with n vertices has at most kn − l edges, and (k,l)-tight if it is (k,l)-sparse and has exactly kn − l edges. Thus trees are exactly the (1,1)-tight graphs, forests are exactly the (1,1)-sparse graphs, and graphs with arboricity k are exactly the (k,k)-sparse graphs. Pseudoforests are exactly the (1,0)-sparse graphs, and the Laman graphs arising in rigidity theory are exactly the (2,3)-tight graphs.

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