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Max-plus algebra is the similarity of the classical linear algebra with two binary operations, maximum and addition. The notation Ax = Bx, where A, B are given (interval) matrices, represents (interval) two-sided (max, plus)-linear system. For the solvability of Ax = Bx, there are some pseudopolynomial algorithms, but a polynomial algorithm is still waiting for an appearance. The paper deals with the analysis of solvability of two-sided (max, plus)-linear equations with inexact (interval) data. The purpose of the paper is to get efficient necessary and sufficient conditions for solvability of the interval systems using the property of the solution set of the non-interval system Ax = Bx. The main contribution of the paper is a transformation of weak versions of solvability to either subeigenvector problems or to non-interval two-sided (max, plus)-linear systems and obtaining the equivalent polynomially checked conditions for the strong versions of solvability.

In this paper, we define D-magic labelings for oriented graphs where D is a distance set. In particular, we label the vertices of the graph with distinct integers {1,2,…,|V(G)|} in such a way that the sum of all the vertex labels that are a distance in D away from a given vertex is the same across all vertices. We give some results related to the magic constant, construct a few infinite families of D-magic graphs, and examine trees, cycles, and multipartite graphs. This definition grew out of the definition of D-magic (undirected) graphs. This paper explores some of the symmetries we see between the undirected and directed version of D-magic labelings.

Conjectures on permanents are well-known unsettled conjectures in linear algebra. Let A be an n×n matrix and Sn be the symmetric group on n element set. The permanent of A is defined as perA=∑σ∈Sn∏i=1naiσ(i). The Merris conjectured that for all n×n doubly stochastic matrices (denoted by Ωn), nperA≥min1≤i≤n∑j=1nperA(j|i), where A(j|i) denotes the matrix obtained from A by deleting the jth row and ith column. Foregger raised a question whether per(tJn+(1−t)A)≤perA for 0≤t≤nn−1 and for all A∈Ωn, where Jn is a doubly stochastic matrix with each entry 1n. The Merris conjecture is one of the well-known conjectures on permanents. This conjecture is still open for n≥4. In this paper, we prove the Merris inequality for some classes of matrices. We use the sub permanent inequalities to prove our results. Foregger’s inequality is also one of the well-known inequalities on permanents, and it is not yet proved for n≥5. Using the concepts of elementary symmetric function and subpermanents, we prove the Foregger’s inequality for n=5 in [0.25, 0.6248]. Let σk(A) be the sum of all subpermanents of order k. Holens and Dokovic proposed a conjecture (Holen–Dokovic conjecture), which states that if A∈Ωn,A≠Jn and k is an integer, 1≤k≤n, then σk(A)≥(n−k+1)2nkσk−1(A). In this paper, we disprove the conjecture for n=k=4.

The Ewens–Pitman sampling model (EP-SM) is a distribution for random partitions of the set {1,…,n}, with n∈N, which is indexed by real parameters α and θ such that either α∈[0,1) and θ&gt, −α, or α&lt, 0 and θ=−mα for some m∈N. For α=0, the EP-SM is reduced to the Ewens sampling model (E-SM), which admits a well-known compound Poisson perspective in terms of the log-series compound Poisson sampling model (LS-CPSM). In this paper, we consider a generalisation of the LS-CPSM, referred to as the negative Binomial compound Poisson sampling model (NB-CPSM), and we show that it leads to an extension of the compound Poisson perspective of the E-SM to the more general EP-SM for either α∈(0,1), or α&lt, 0. The interplay between the NB-CPSM and the EP-SM is then applied to the study of the large n asymptotic behaviour of the number of blocks in the corresponding random partitions—leading to a new proof of Pitman’s α diversity. We discuss the proposed results and conjecture that analogous compound Poisson representations may hold for the class of α-stable Poisson–Kingman sampling models—of which the EP-SM is a noteworthy special case.

In this paper we introduce and study a new generalization of Fibonacci polynomials which generalize Fibonacci, Jacobsthal and Narayana numbers, simultaneously. We give a graph interpretation of these polynomials and we obtain a binomial formula for them. Moreover by modification of Pascal’s triangle, which has a symmetric structure, we obtain matrices generated by coefficients of generalized Fibonacci polynomials. As a consequence, the direct formula for generalized Fibonacci polynomials was given. In addition, we determine matrix generators for generalized Fibonacci polynomials, using the symmetric matrix of initial conditions.

The energy E(G) of a graph G is the sum of the absolute values of its adjacency matrix. In contrast, the trace norm of a digraph Q, which is the sum of the singular values of the corresponding adjacency matrix, is the oriented version of the energy of a graph. It is worth pointing out that one of the main problems in this theory consists of determining appropriated bounds of these types of energies for significant classes of graphs, digraphs and matrices, provided that, in general, finding out their exact values is a problem of great difficulty. In this paper, the trace norm of a {0,1}-Brauer configuration is introduced. It is estimated and computed by associating suitable families of graphs and posets to Brauer configuration algebras.

An antimagic labeling of a graph G is a bijection f:E(G)→{1,…,|E(G)|} such that the weights w(x)=∑y∼xf(y) distinguish all vertices. A well-known conjecture of Hartsfield and Ringel (1990) is that every connected graph other than K2 admits an antimagic labeling. For a set of distances D, a D-antimagic labeling of a graph G is a bijection f:V(G)→{1,…,|V(G)|} such that the weightω(x)=∑y∈ND(x)f(y) is distinct for each vertex x, where ND(x)={y∈V(G)|d(x,y)∈D} is the D-neigbourhood set of a vertex x. If ND(x)=r, for every vertex x in G, a graph G is said to be (D,r)-regular. In this paper, we conjecture that a graph admits a D-antimagic labeling if and only if it does not contain two vertices having the same D-neighborhood set. We also provide evidence that the conjecture is true. We present computational results that, for D={1}, all graphs of order up to 8 concur with the conjecture. We prove that the set of (D,r)-regular D-antimagic graphs is closed under union. We provide examples of disjoint union of symmetric (D,r)-regular that are D-antimagic and examples of disjoint union of non-symmetric non-(D,r)-regular graphs that are D-antimagic. Furthermore, lastly, we show that it is possible to obtain a D-antimagic graph from a previously known distance antimagic graph.

Let R be a commutative ring with nonzero identity and k≥2 be a fixed integer. The k-zero-divisor hypergraph Hk(R) of R consists of the vertex set Z(R,k), the set of all k-zero-divisors of R, and the hyperedges of the form {a1,a2,a3,…,ak}, where a1,a2,a3,…,ak are k distinct elements in Z(R,k), which means (i) a1a2a3⋯ak=0 and (ii) the products of all elements of any (k−1) subsets of {a1,a2,a3,…,ak} are nonzero. This paper provides two commutative rings so that one of them induces a family of complete k-zero-divisor hypergraphs, while another induces a family of k-partite σ-zero-divisor hypergraphs, which illustrates unbalanced or asymmetric structure. Moreover, the diameter and the minimum length of all cycles or girth of the family of k-partite σ-zero-divisor hypergraphs are determined. In addition to a k-zero-divisor hypergraph, we provide the definition of an ideal-based k-zero-divisor hypergraph and some basic results on these hypergraphs concerning a complete k-partite k-uniform hypergraph, a complete k-uniform hypergraph, and a clique.

The order of appearance of n (in the Fibonacci sequence) z(n) is defined as the smallest positive integer k for which n divides the k—the Fibonacci number Fk. Very recently, Trojovský proved that z(n) is an even number for almost all positive integers n (in the natural density sense). Moreover, he conjectured that the same is valid for the set of integers n≥1 for which the integer 4 divides z(n). In this paper, among other things, we prove that for any k≥1, the number z(n) is divisible by 2k for almost all positive integers n (in particular, we confirm Trojovský’s conjecture).

Given a graph G, the zero forcing number of G, Z(G), is the smallest cardinality of any set S of vertices on which repeated applications of the forcing rule results in all vertices being in S. The forcing rule is: if a vertex v is in S, and exactly one neighbor u of v is not in S, then u is added to S in the next iteration. Zero forcing numbers have attracted great interest over the past 15 years and have been well studied. In this paper, we investigate the largest size of a set S that does not force all of the vertices in a graph to be in S. This quantity is known as the failed zero forcing number of a graph and will be denoted by F(G). We present new results involving this parameter. In particular, we completely characterize all graphs G where F(G)=2, solving a problem posed in 2015 by Fetcie, Jacob, and Saavedra.

A generalization of the well-known Fibonacci sequence is the k−Fibonacci sequence whose first k terms are 0,…,0,1 and each term afterwards is the sum of the preceding k terms. In this paper, we find all k-Fibonacci numbers that are curious numbers (i.e., numbers whose base ten representation have the form a⋯ab⋯ba⋯a). This work continues and extends the prior result of Trojovský, who found all Fibonacci numbers with a prescribed block of digits, and the result of Alahmadi et al., who searched for k-Fibonacci numbers, which are concatenation of two repdigits.

Balanced signed graphs appear in the context of social groups with symmetric relations between individuals where a positive edge represents friendship and a negative edge represents enmities between the individuals. The frustration number f of a signed graph is the size of the minimal set F of vertices whose removal results in a balanced signed graph; hence, a connected signed graph G˙ is balanced if and only if f=0. In this paper, we consider the balance of G˙ via the relationships between the frustration number and eigenvalues of the symmetric Laplacian matrix associated with G˙. It is known that a signed graph is balanced if and only if its least Laplacian eigenvalue μn is zero. We consider the inequalities that involve certain Laplacian eigenvalues, the frustration number f and some related invariants such as the cut size of F and its average vertex degree. In particular, we consider the interplay between μn and f.

It is easily observed that the vertices of a simple graph cannot have pairwise distinct degrees. This means that no simple graph of the order of at least two is, in this way, irregular. However, a multigraph can be irregular. Chartrand et al., in 1988, posed the following problem: in a loopless multigraph, how can one determine the fewest parallel edges required to ensure that all vertices have distinct degrees? This problem is known as the graph labeling problem and, for its solution, Chartrand et al. introduced irregular assignments. The irregularity strength of a graph G is known as the maximal edge label used in an irregular assignment, minimized over all irregular assignments. Thus, the irregularity strength of a simple graph G is equal to the smallest maximum multiplicity of an edge of G in order to create an irregular multigraph from G. In the present paper, we show the existence of a required irregular labeling scheme that proves the exact value of the irregularity strength of wheels. Then, we modify this irregular mapping in six cases and obtain labelings that determine the exact value of the modular irregularity strength of wheels as a natural modification of the irregularity strength.

A proper total k-coloring ϕ of G with ∑z∈EG(u)∪{u}ϕ(z)≠∑z∈EG(v)∪{v}ϕ(z) for each uv∈E(G) is called a total neighbor sum distinguishing k-coloring, where EG(u)={uv|uv∈E(G)}. Pilśniak and Woźniak conjectured that every graph with maximum degree Δ exists a total neighbor sum distinguishing (Δ+3)-coloring. In this paper, we proved that any IC-planar graph with Δ≥12 satisfies this conjecture, which improves the result of Song and Xu.

Countably recognizable group classes were introduced by Reinhold Baer and provide a very ingenious way to study large groups through the properties of their countable subgroups. This is the reason we have chosen the countable recognizability to start this series of survey papers on infinite group theory.

In the paper, we present a study devoted to the utilization of multiple-solution tasks (MSTs) in combinatorics as a part of a pre-service teachers course on didactics of mathematics from the view of the mathematics teachers’ specialized knowledge (MTSK) theoretical framework. The study was carried out over the standard course of a summer semester in 2021. The course was attended by 13 pre-service teachers (PSTs). It was carried out online, due to COVID-19 restrictions. Ten combinatorial multiple-solution tasks were assigned to the PSTs. Analyzing pre-service teachers solutions to these tasks, we sought the description and better understanding of the combinatorial knowledge of the topic from the perspective of MSTK. The results revealed some critical aspects of mathematical knowledge in combinatorics that pre-service teachers education should focus on.

The commuting graph of a finite non-abelian group G with center Z(G), denoted by Γc(G), is a simple undirected graph whose vertex set is G∖Z(G), and two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if xy=yx. Alwardi et al. (Bulletin, 2011, 36, 49-59) defined the common neighborhood matrix CN(G) and the common neighborhood energy Ecn(G) of a simple graph G. A graph G is called CN-hyperenergetic if Ecn(G)&gt, Ecn(Kn), where n=|V(G)| and Kn denotes the complete graph on n vertices. Two graphs G and H with equal number of vertices are called CN-equienergetic if Ecn(G)=Ecn(H). In this paper we compute the common neighborhood energy of Γc(G) for several classes of finite non-abelian groups, including the class of groups such that the central quotient is isomorphic to group of symmetries of a regular polygon, and conclude that these graphs are not CN-hyperenergetic. We shall also obtain some pairs of finite non-abelian groups such that their commuting graphs are CN-equienergetic.

The Estrada index of a graph G is defined as EE(G)=∑i=1neλi, where λ1,λ2,…,λn are the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of G. A unicyclic graph is a connected graph with a unique cycle. Let U(n,d) be the set of all unicyclic graphs with n vertices and diameter d. In this paper, we give some transformations which can be used to compare the Estrada indices of two graphs. Using these transformations, we determine the graphs with the maximum Estrada indices among U(n,d). We characterize two candidate graphs with the maximum Estrada index if d is odd and three candidate graphs with the maximum Estrada index if d is even.

A new domination parameter in a fuzzy digraph is proposed to espouse a contribution in the domain of domination in a fuzzy graph and a directed graph. Let GD*=V,A be a directed simple graph, where V is a finite nonempty set and A=x,y:x,y∈V,x≠y. A fuzzy digraph GD=σD,μD is a pair of two functions σD:V→0,1 and μD:A→0,1, such that μDx,y≤σDx∧σDy, where x,y∈V. An edge μDx,y of a fuzzy digraph is called an effective edge if μDx,y=σDx∧σDy. Let x,y∈V. The vertex σDx dominates σDy in GD if μDx,y is an effective edge. Let S⊆V, u∈V\S, and v∈S. A subset σDS⊆σD is a dominating set of GD if, for every σDu∈σD\σDS, there exists σDv∈σDS, such that σDv dominates σDu. The minimum dominating set of a fuzzy digraph GD is called the domination number of a fuzzy digraph and is denoted by γGD. In this paper, the concept of domination in a fuzzy digraph is introduced, the domination number of a fuzzy digraph is characterized, and the domination number of a fuzzy dipath and a fuzzy dicycle is modeled.

In this paper, we introduce and investigate an ideal-based dot total graph of commutative ring R with nonzero unity. We show that this graph is connected and has a small diameter of at most two. Furthermore, its vertex set is divided into three disjoint subsets of R. After that, connectivity, clique number, and girth have also been studied. Finally, we determine the cases when it is Eulerian, Hamiltonian, and contains a Eulerian trail.

The maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) problem is important since it occurs in various applications, such as facility location, selection of non-overlapping time slots, labeling of digital maps, etc. However, in real-life situations, input parameters within those models are often loosely defined or subject to change. For such reasons, this paper studies robust variants of the MWIS problem. The study is restricted to cases where the involved graph is a tree. Uncertainty of vertex weights is represented by intervals. First, it is observed that the max–min variant of the problem can be solved in linear time. Next, as the most important original contribution, it is proved that the min–max regret variant is NP-hard. Finally, two mutually related approximation algorithms for the min–max regret variant are proposed. The first of them is already known, but adjusted to the considered situation, while the second one is completely new. Both algorithms are analyzed and evaluated experimentally.

A Cayley graph Γ=Cay(G,S) is said to be normal if the base group G is normal in AutΓ. The concept of the normality of Cayley graphs was first proposed by M.Y. Xu in 1998 and it plays a vital role in determining the full automorphism groups of Cayley graphs. In this paper, we construct an example of a 2-arc transitive hexavalent nonnormal Cayley graph on the alternating group A119. Furthermore, we determine the full automorphism group of this graph and show that it is isomorphic to A120.

Let (Fn)n be the sequence of Fibonacci numbers. The order of appearance (in the Fibonacci sequence) of a positive integer n is defined as z(n)=min{k≥1:n∣Fk}. Very recently, Trojovská and Venkatachalam proved that, for any k≥1, the number z(n) is divisible by 2k, for almost all integers n≥1 (in the sense of natural density). Moreover, they posed a conjecture that implies that the same is true upon replacing 2k by any integer m≥1. In this paper, in particular, we prove this conjecture.

A subset J is a (2-d)-kernel of a graph if J is independent and 2-dominating simultaneously. In this paper, we consider two different generalizations of the Petersen graph and we give complete characterizations of these graphs which have (2-d)-kernel. Moreover, we determine the number of (2-d)-kernels of these graphs as well as their lower and upper kernel number. The property that each of the considered generalizations of the Petersen graph has a symmetric structure is useful in finding (2-d)-kernels in these graphs.

A graph G is said to be k-γc-critical if the connected domination number γc(G) is equal to k and γc(G+uv)&lt, k for any pair of non-adjacent vertices u and v of G. Let ζ be the number of cut vertices of G and let ζ0 be the maximum number of cut vertices that can be contained in one block. For an integer ℓ≥0, a graph G is ℓ-factor critical if G−S has a perfect matching for any subset S of vertices of size ℓ. It was proved by Ananchuen in 2007 for k=3, Kaemawichanurat and Ananchuen in 2010 for k=4 and by Kaemawichanurat and Ananchuen in 2020 for k≥5 that every k-γc-critical graph has at most k−2 cut vertices and the graphs with maximum number of cut vertices were characterized. In 2020, Kaemawichanurat and Ananchuen proved further that, for k≥4, every k-γc-critical graphs satisfies the inequality ζ0(G)≤mink+23,ζ. In this paper, we characterize all k-γc-critical graphs having k−3 cut vertices. Further, we establish realizability that, for given k≥4, 2≤ζ≤k−2 and 2≤ζ0≤mink+23,ζ, there exists a k-γc-critical graph with ζ cut vertices having a block which contains ζ0 cut vertices. Finally, we proved that every k-γc-critical graph of odd order with minimum degree two is 1-factor critical if and only if 1≤k≤2. Further, we proved that every k-γc-critical K1,3-free graph of even order with minimum degree three is 2-factor critical if and only if 1≤k≤2.

Let G be a graph with vertex set V(G) and edge set E(G). A graph invariant for G is a number related to the structure of G which is invariant under the symmetry of G. The Sombor and reduced Sombor indices of G are two new graph invariants defined as SO(G)=∑uv∈E(G)dG(u)2+dG(v)2 and SOred(G)=∑uv∈E(G)dG(u)−12+dG(v)−12, respectively, where dG(v) is the degree of the vertex v in G. We denote by Hn,ν the graph constructed from the star Sn by adding ν edge(s), 0≤ν≤n−2, between a fixed pendent vertex and ν other pendent vertices. Réti et al. [T. Réti, T Došlić and A. Ali, On the Sombor index of graphs, Contrib. Math.3 (2021) 11–18] proposed a conjecture that the graph Hn,ν has the maximum Sombor index among all connected ν-cyclic graphs of order n, where 0≤ν≤n−2. In some earlier works, the validity of this conjecture was proved for ν≤5. In this paper, we confirm that this conjecture is true, when ν=6. The Sombor index in the case that the number of pendent vertices is less than or equal to n−ν−2 is investigated, and the same results are obtained for the reduced Sombor index. Some relationships between Sombor, reduced Sombor, and first Zagreb indices of graphs are also obtained.

Ebisu and Iwassaki proved that there are three-term relations for 3F2(1) with a group symmetry of order 72. In this paper, we apply some specific three-term relations for 3F2(1) to partially answer the open problem raised by Miller and Paris in 2012. Given a known value 3F2((a,b,x),(c,x+1),1), if f−x is an integer, then we construct an algorithm to obtain 3F2((a,b,f),(c,f+n),1) in an explicit closed form, where n is a positive integer and a,b,c and f are arbitrary complex numbers. We also extend our results to evaluate some specific forms of p+1Fp(1), for any positive integer p≥2.

In this paper we use a graph interpretation of distance Fibonacci polynomials to get a new generalization of Lucas polynomials in the distance sense. We give a direct formula, a generating function and we prove some identities for generalized Lucas polynomials. We present Pascal-like triangles with left-justified rows filled with coefficients of these polynomials, in which one can observe some symmetric patterns. Using a general Q-matrix and a symmetric matrix of initial conditions we also define matrix generators for generalized Lucas polynomials.

We study the asymptotic behavior in a neighborhood of zero of the sum of a sine series g(b,x)=∑k=1∞bksinkx whose coefficients constitute a convex slowly varying sequence b. The main term of the asymptotics of the sum of such a series was obtained by Aljančić, Bojanić, and Tomić. To estimate the deviation of g(b,x) from the main term of its asymptotics bm(x)/x, m(x)=[π/x], Telyakovskiĭ used the piecewise-continuous function σ(b,x)=x∑k=1m(x)−1k2(bk−bk+1). He showed that the difference g(b,x)−bm(x)/x in some neighborhood of zero admits a two-sided estimate in terms of the function σ(b,x) with absolute constants independent of b. Earlier, the author found the sharp values of these constants. In the present paper, the asymptotics of the function g(b,x) on the class of convex slowly varying sequences in the regular case is obtained.