Date of Award

5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School

College of Science and Mathematics

Department/Program

Mathematics

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Jonathan Cutler

Committee Member

Deepak Bal

Committee Member

Aihua Li

Abstract

Wilf found the maximum number of independent dominating sets of a tree using algebraic methods, while Sagan gave an elementary proof. In this thesis, we maximize the number of independent dominating sets of unicyclic graphs, giving a new proof of a result of Jou and Chang. In our proof, we are able to reduce the problem to finding independent dominating sets of single-legged caterpillar graphs. We also study the number of single-legged caterpillar graphs, both oriented and unoriented, which are related to the Fibonacci Sequence. Finally, this thesis also examines the domination ratio in unicyclic graphs. The domination ratio is the quotient of the minimum size of an independent dominating set and the minimum size of a dominating set. Using a generalization of a technique of Furuya et al., we find a new bound on this ratio for unicyclic graphs.

File Format

PDF

Included in

Mathematics Commons

Share

COinS