Fractional Graph Theory: A Rational Approach to the Theory of Graphs

"Both authors are excellent expositors-exceptionally so-and this makes for a pleasurable read and allows for clear understanding of the mathematical concepts." -Joel Spencer Fractional Graph Theory explores the various ways in which integer-valued graph theory concepts can be modified to derive nonintegral values. Based on the authors' extensive review of the literature, it provides a unified treatment of the most important results in the study of fractional graph concepts. Professors Scheinerman and Ullman begin by developing a general fractional theory of hypergraphs and move on to provide in-depth coverage of fundamental and advanced topics, including fractional matching, fractional coloring, and fractional edge coloring; fractional arboricity via matroid methods; and fractional isomorphism. The final chapter is devoted to a variety of additional issues, such as fractional topological graph theory, fractional cycle double covers, fractional domination, fractional intersection number, and fractional aspects of partially ordered sets. Supplemented with many challenging exercises in each chapter as well as an abundance of references and bibliographic material, Fractional Graph Theory is a comprehensive reference for researchers and an excellent graduate-level text for students of graph theory and linear programming.