On the number of congruence classes of paths

Let $P_n$ denote the undirected path of length $n-1$. The cardinality of the set of congruence classes induced by the graph homomorphisms from $P_n$ onto $P_k$ is determined. This settles an open problem of Michels and Knauer (Disc. Math., 309\ (2009)\ 5352-5359). Our result is based on a new proven formula of the number of homomorphisms between paths.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Discrete Mathematic

On monoids of endomorphisms of a cycle graph

In this paper we consider endomorphisms of an undirected cycle graph from Semigroup Theory perspective. Our main aim is to present a process to determine sets of generators with minimal cardinality for the monoids $wEnd(C_n)$ and $End(C_n)$ of all weak endomorphisms and all endomorphisms of an undirected cycle graph $C_n$ with $n$ vertices. We also describe Green's relations and regularity of these monoids and calculate their cardinalities