Almost-rainbow edge-colorings of some small subgraphs

Let $f(n,p,q)$ be the minimum number of colors necessary to color the edges of $K_n$ so that every $K_p$ is at least $q$-colored. We improve current bounds on the {7/4}n-3$, slightly improving the bound of Axenovich. We make small improvements on bounds of Erd\H os and Gy\'arf\'as by showing${5/6}n+1\leq f(n,4,5)$and for all even$n\not\equiv 1 \pmod 3$,$f(n,4,5)\leq n-1$. For a complete bipartite graph$G=K_{n,n}$, we show an n-color construction to color the edges of$G$so that every$C_4\subseteq G$ is colored by at least three colors. This improves the best known upper bound of M. Axenovich, Z. F\"uredi, and D. Mubayi.Comment: 13 page

Lobsters with an almost perfect matching are graceful

Let $T$ be a lobster with a matching that covers all but one vertex. We show that in this case, $T$ is graceful.Comment: 4 page

On a Vizing-type integer domination conjecture

Given a simple graph $G$, a dominating set in $G$ is a set of vertices $S$ such that every vertex not in $S$ has a neighbor in $S$. Denote the domination number, which is the size of any minimum dominating set of $G$, by $\gamma(G)$. For any integer $k\ge 1$, a function $f : V (G) \rightarrow \{0, 1, . . ., k\}$ is called a \emph{$\{k\}$-dominating function} if the sum of its function values over any closed neighborhood is at least $k$. The weight of a $\{k\}$-dominating function is the sum of its values over all the vertices. The $\{k\}$-domination number of $G$, $\gamma_{\{k\}}(G)$, is defined to be the minimum weight taken over all $\{k\}$-domination functions. Bre\v{s}ar, Henning, and Klav\v{z}ar (On integer domination in graphs and Vizing-like problems. \emph{Taiwanese J. Math.} {10(5)} (2006) pp. 1317--1328) asked whether there exists an integer $k\ge 2$ so that $\gamma_{\{k\}}(G\square H)\ge \gamma(G)\gamma(H)$. In this note we use the Roman $\{2\}$-domination number, $\gamma_{R2}$ of Chellali, Haynes, Hedetniemi, and McRae, (Roman $\{2\}$-domination. \emph{Discrete Applied Mathematics} {204} (2016) pp. 22-28.) to prove that if $G$ is a claw-free graph and $H$ is an arbitrary graph, then $\gamma_{\{2\}}(G\square H)\ge \gamma_{R2}(G\square H)\ge \gamma(G)\gamma(H)$, which also implies the conjecture for all $k\ge 2$.Comment: 8 page

All trees are six-cordial

For any integer $k>0$, a tree $T$ is $k$-cordial if there exists a labeling of the vertices of $T$ by $\mathbb{Z}_k$, inducing a labeling on the edges with edge-weights found by summing the labels on vertices incident to a given edge modulo $k$ so that each label appears on at most one more vertex than any other and each edge-weight appears on at most one more edge than any other. We prove that all trees are six-cordial by an adjustment of the test proposed by Hovey (1991) to show all trees are $k$-cordial.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure