Introduction to

Planar Graphs
 The House-and-Utilities Problem

Is it possible to join the three houses to the three utilities in such a way
that none of the connections cross?
• Phrased another way, this question is equivalent
to: Given the complete bipartite graph K3,3, can
K3,3 be drawn in the plane so that no two of its
edges cross?

K3,3
 Planar Graphs
• A graph is called planar if it can be drawn in the plane without
any edges crossing.

• A crossing of edges is the intersection of the lines or arcs

representing them at a point other than their common endpoint.

• Such a drawing is called a planar embedding of the graph.

 Example
Is the following graph planar?

A graph may be planar even if it is usually drawn with crossings,

since it may be possible to draw it in another way without
crossings.
 Example
Is the following graph planar?
 Example
Is the following graph planar?
Is the following graph planar?

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9
 Planar Graphs
• We can prove that a particular graph is planar by showing how it
can be drawn without any crossings.

• However, not all graphs are planar.

• It means it is difficult to show that a graph is nonplanar, i.e., we

would have to show that there is no way to draw the graph
without any edges crossing.
A graph that can be drawn in the plane without any of its
edges intersecting is called a planar graph.

A graph that is so drawn in the plane is also said to be

embedded in the plane.

A planar graph G that is drawn in the plane so that no two

edges intersect (that is, G is embedded in the plane) is
called a plane graph..

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Is the following graph planar? If yes, draw its two plane drawing.

(a) planar, (c) another

not a plane graph (b) a plane graph plane graph

Note. A given planar graph can give rise to several different

plane graph.
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 Faces
When a planar graph is drawn with no crossing edges, it divides
the plane into a set of regions, called faces.
Each face is bounded by a closed walk called the boundary of
the face.
The regions enclosed by the plane graph are called interior
faces of the graph. The region surrounding the plane graph is
called the exterior (or infinite) face of the graph.
When we say faces of the graph we mean BOTH the interior
AND the exterior faces. We usually denote the number of faces
of a planar graph by f .

G R3: exterior face

R1

R2
G has 3 faces.
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Compute number of faces?
Boundary of R1:
v1 v2
G3 v1 v2
R1 v3
v3 Boundary of R5:
v5 v4 R5 v1 v2

v6 R2 v7
v3
R3 v5 v4
v8 v9
R4 v6 v7

G3 has 5 regions.
v9
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 Example
Draw plane drawing of the following graphs and then Compute the
number of faces

3
6

How many faces a tree has?

 Faces
• Note: All plane embeddings of a graph split the plane into the
same number of faces, including an unbounded region.

R4 R3 R2

R1
Thm (Euler’s Formula)
If G is a connected plane graph with p vertices, q edges,
and r regions, then
p − q + r = 2.

R4 R3 R2
# of edges, q = 6
R1 # of vertices, p = 4
# of regions, r = q - p + 2 = 4
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 Thm (Euler’s Formula)
If G is a connected plane graph with p vertices, q
edges, and r regions, then
p − q + r = 2.

pf: (by induction on q)

(basis) If q = 0, then G  K1; so p = 1, r =1,
and p − q + r = 2.

(inductive) Assume the result is true for any graph

with q = k − 1 edges, where k  1.

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Let G be a graph with k edges. Suppose G has
p vertices and r regions.
If G is a tree,
then G has p vertices, p−1 edges and 1 region.
 p − q + r = p – (p−1) + 1 = 2.

If G is not a tree,
then some edge e of G is on a cycle.

Hence G−e is a connected plane graph having p vertices,

k−1 edges, and r−1 regions.

 p − (k−1) + (r−1) = 2 (by assumption)

p−k+r=2
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Ex: Let G be a 5-regular planar graph with 20
vertices. How many regions result when this graph
is embedded in the plane?

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 Euler Formula and
Maximal Planar Graphs
Is the following graph planar? If yes, draw its two plane
drawing.

(a) planar, (c) another

not a plane graph (b) a plane graph plane graph

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 Faces
• Note: All plane embeddings of a graph split the plane into the
same number of faces, including an unbounded region.

R4 R3 R2

R1
Thm (Euler’s Formula)
If G is a connected plane graph with p vertices, q
edges, and r regions, then
p − q + r = 2.

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Are these two graphs isomorphic.

What if someone is looking for all interior faces to

be triangular or all the vertices to be exterior?
A plane graph G is called maximal planar if, for every
pair u, v of nonadjacent vertices of G, the graph G+uv
is nonplanar.
Q. Draw a maximal planar graph of 6 vertices.
How many edges and regions are there in this graph?

n = 6, m = 12, f = 8
In any embedding of a maximal planar graph G of order
at least 3, every region of G is a triangle.
If it is not triangle, we can always add an edge while
maintaining planarity, hence not maximal.

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Theorem: If G is a maximal planar graph with p  3
vertices and q edges, then
q = 3p − 6.
pf Embed the graph G in the plane, resulting in r regions.
 p − q + r = 2.
Since the boundary of every region of G is a triangle,
every edge lies on the boundary of two regions.

Number of edges = q = 3r/2, i.e.,

 p − q + 2q / 3 = 2.

 q = 3p − 6

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Corollary: If G is a maximal planar bipartite graph
with p  3 vertices and q edges, then q =
q = 2p − 4

pf
The boundary of every region is a 4-cycle.
4r = 2q  p − q + q / 2 = 2  q = 2p − 4.

Corollary: If G is a planar graph with p  3

vertices and q edges, then
q  3p − 6.

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Prove or disprove:The graphs K5 and K3,3 are
nonplanar.

K3,3
K5

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Prove that K5 and K3,3 are nonplanar.
pf
(1) K5 has p = 5 vertices and q = 10 edges.
q > 3p − 6  K5 is nonplanar.

(2) K3,3 has p = 6 vertices and q = 9 edges.

q > 2p − 4  K3,3 is nonplanar.

Is it possible to have a non-planar graph having no
K5 and K3,3 as a subgraph.
Every planar graph contains a vertex of degree
5 or less.
Pf (can we prove it by contradiction)
Let G be a planar graph of p vertices and q
edges.
If deg(v)  6 for every vV(G)

  deg(v)  6 p
vV ( G )

 2q  6p
but q ≤ 3p – 6

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Find all possible simple connected plane graphs having all the
vertices of same degree and all the faces of same length.

Ch9-33
Kuratowski’s Theorem
Let G be a graph and e={u, v} an edge of G. A subdivision of
e is the replacement of the edge e by a simple path (u0, u1, …,
uk), where u0 = u and uk =v are the only vertices of the path in
V(G) of G.
We say that G’ is a subdivision of G if G’ is obtained from G
by a sequence of subdivisions of edges in G.

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Subdivisions of graphs.

H
G

H is a subdivision of G.

F is not a subdivision of G. 36
Definition
Two graphs G’ and G’’ are homeomorphic if both G’ and G’’
are subdivisions of the same graph G.

Are the following graphs homeomorphic

Both are sub-divisions of K5

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Are the following graphs homeomorphic

Remark. If two graphs are homeomorphic, they must have the

same number of vertices of degree i for each i ≠ 2.
Thus none of the above graphs are homeomorphic.
G1 has all of its ten vertices of degree four, G2 has no vertices
of degree four and G3 has fives vertices of degree four.

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• Are the graphs G and H homeomorphic?

G H

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Thm: (Kuratowski’s Theorem)
A graph G is planar, if and only if, it has no subgraph
homeomorphic to either K5 or K3,3.

Example
Is Petersen graph is nonplanar.
1 2 3
1

4 5 6

10 7
4 5 6
2 3 (b) Subdivision of K3,3
8 9
(a) Petersen
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The remarkable feature about this necessary condition for a
graph to be planar is that the condition is also sufficient. The
first published proof of this fact occurred in 1930. This
theorem is due to the well-known Polish topologist
Kazimierz Kuratowski (1896–1980), who first announced
this theorem in 1929. The title of Kuratowski’s paper is
Sur le probl`eme des courbes gauches en topologie (On
the problem of skew curves in topology), which
suggests, and rightly so, that the setting of his theorem
was in topology – not graph theory. Nonplanar graphs
were sometimes called skew graphs during that period.

Ch9-41
The publication date of Kuratowski’s paper was critical
to having the theorem credited to him, for, as it turned
out, later in 1930 two American mathematicians Orrin
Frink and Paul Althaus Smith submitted a paper
containing a proof of this theorem as well but withdrew it
after they became aware that Kuratowski’s proof had
preceded theirs, although just barely. They did publish a
one-sentence announcement [72] of what they had
accomplished in the Bulletin of the American
Mathematical Society and, as the title of their note
indicates (Irreducible non-planar graphs), the setting for
their proof was graph theoretical in nature.

Ch9-42
Determine which of the following graphs are planar. If they are
planar, draw a planar representation.
If they are not planar, show that they are not planar.

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 Delete edges ce and ae, then it is
homeomorphic to K5.

This graph donot have 5 vertices of degree 4, hence

cant be homeomorphic to K5. To be homeomorphic to
K3, 3 , each vertex must have degree 3. a is adjacent to
b,c and f, i.e., b, c, f must form a partite set and a, d, e
forms another partite set but then d is adjacent to e.

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First delete vertex a. Then delete eg and gc. Remaining graph is
homeomorphic to K3, 3 , where f, b, d, forms a partite set and c, g,
e forms another partite set.
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46
Show that the following graph is nonplanar.

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Wagner Theorem
and
Crossing Number
The contraction of G by e (denoted by Ge) is
an operation which removes an edge from a graph while
simultaneously merging the two vertices that it previously joined.

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Simple contraction of G by e (denoted by G/e)

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For
G’ c
sequ
1.
2.

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 Q. Is graph H a minor of graph G

Yes
First construct a subgraph of G by deleting the dashed edges
(and the resulting isolated vertex), and then contract the gray
edge.
K3,3 as a graph minor
by contracting dotted edges

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Q. Does Petersen graph contains K5 as a graph minor.

K5 as a graph minor
by contracting dotted edges

Petersen graph has a subgraph homeomorphic to K3,3 but it has

no subgraph homeomorphic to K5.
On the other hand, both K3,3 and K5 are minors of the Petersen
graph.

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Using Wagner’s Theorem, check if the following graphs are planar

K5 as minor
by contracting
red edges

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K5 as minor

56
Converse of above Lemma
may not be true.

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59
60
Is the following graph planar? If not, find the crossing
number of the following Graph?

one

Find the crossing number of Petersen Graph?

two
Let G be a graph on n vertices and 3n − 6 + k edges for some k > 0.
Then, prove that any plane drawing of G contains at least k crossing pairs
of edges.

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Determine the crossing number of K5, K4,4 and Petersen Graph.

For K5, m = 10 and 3n – 6 = 9

Implies there is at least one crossing.

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Determine the crossing number of K4,4

For K4,4, m = 16 and 2n – 4 = 12

Implies there is at least 4 crossings.

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Q.5 Show, using Euler’s formula, that if G is a planar graph on n vertices
that has finite girth g, then G has at most (g/g − 2)(n − 2) edges. Hence,
deduce that the Petersen graph is not planar.

Girth is a cycle of smallest length.

Degree sum = 2m ≥ g × f but n – m + f = 2
Implies n – m + 2m/g ≥ 2
Implies m ≤ (g/g – 2)(n – 2)

For Petersen graph, g = 5, n = 10, m = 15

Implies m > (g/g – 2)(n – 2).
Hence, non-planar.
Determine the crossing number of Petersen Graph.
If G is a planar graph on n vertices that has finite girth g,
then G has at most (g/g − 2)(n − 2) edges.
Let G be a graph on n vertices and [(n – 2)g/(g – 2)]+ k edges
for some k > 0.
Then, any plane drawing of G contains at least k crossing pairs
of edges.

n = 10, g = 5, m = 15, hence, at least Petersen graph has

atleast 2 crossing pairs of edges.

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