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I know in a graph with n vertices, there are m = (n(n-1)/2) edges, but in a graph with m edges, how many vertices are there?

alecr
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  • Your school teaches graph theory before quadratic equations? – bof Oct 30 '16 at 02:56
  • As @bof implies, just use that equation for m in terms of n and solve for n. That means solving a quadratic equation. At least, if you mean a complete graph in your question, which you did not quite say. – Rory Daulton Oct 30 '16 at 10:46
  • @bof I didn't know what to tag it, I – alecr Oct 30 '16 at 16:46

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It's not clear in your question if you are assuming that $G$ is a complete graph. In order to answer this accurately, we need to know something more about the graph that contains the $m$ edges.

For example:

  • A perfect matching with $m$ edges has exactly $2m$ vertices.
  • A tree with $m$ edges has exactly $m+1$ vertices.
  • A complete graph with $m$ edges will have $\dfrac{1+\sqrt{1+8m}}{2}$ vertices.

Generally speaking as the connectivity of $G$ increases for a fixed number of edges, the number of vertices necessarily decreases.

Laars Helenius
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