On Odd-graceful Labelings of Irregular Dragon

Graphs
Xinsheng Liu, Yuanyuan Liu† , Bing Yao‡ ,Yumei Ma, Hua Lian
College of Mathematics and statistics, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China
Correspond author: † e-mail: 137548353@.qq.com and ‡ e-mail: yybb918@163.com

Abstract—Many recent literature show that labelled graphs
can be applied in a wide range of scientific fields, such as
coding theory, communication network, logistic and so on. For
the purpose of researching complex networks, we define irregular
dragon graphs as new network models, and show that irregular
dragon graphs admit odd-graceful labellings.
Keywords: Odd-graceful labelling; Orregular dragon graph;
Odd-graceful dragon graph.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Labelled graphs can be applied in a wide range of scientific
fields, such as coding theory, communication network, logistic
and so on. In 1963, Rosa studied the Ringel’s conjecture:
Y } (write briefly f (X) < f (Y ) hereafter), then we call f a
set-ordered odd-graceful labelling [4].
Definition 2. [5] Let Gi be a simple, connected and bipartite
graph with bipartition (Xi , Yi ), where
Xi = {xi,1 , xi,2 , . . . , xi,li }, Yi = {yi,1 , yi,2 , . . . , yi,ni } (1)
for i ∈ [1, m]. We identify two vertices yi,ni −ki +j with yi+1,j
into one vertex for every j ∈ [1, ki ] and each i ∈ [1, m − 1]
with 1 ≤ ki ≤ min{ni , ni+1 }. The resulting graph is denoted
as G\ i Gi+1 (m), called a dragon graph. If ks ̸= kr for some
distinct s, r ∈ [1, m], G\
i Gi+1 (m) is called an irregular dragon

Given a tree T of order n + 1, the complete graph K2n+1 graph. If Gi = Gi+1 = H, and
can be decomposed into 2n + 1 edge-disjoint subgraphs such k1 = k2 = · · · = km = k ≥ 1, (2)
that each is isomorphic to T . He found a way to settle down
Ringel’s Conjecture if the given T is graceful (also the famous G\i Gi+1 (m) is called a uniformly (k, m)-dragon graph, espe-
Graceful Tree Conjecture). In 1991, Gnanajothi (as in [1],[2]) d (k,m) ([5], [6]).
cially, write it as HH
studied odd-graceful graphs and proposed the Odd-graceful
A dragon graph K\ li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (5) is shown in Fig. 1 and
Tree Conjecture: All trees are odd-graceful [1].
Fig. 2, where Kli ,ni for i ∈ [1, 5].
In this article, we will show that dragon graphs have
odd-graceful labellings. Standard terminology and notation of x1,1 x1,2 x1,3 x1,4 x1,5 x2,1 x2,2 x2,3 x2,4 x3,1 x3,2
graph theory are used here. Graphs mentioned are simple,
undirected, connected and finite. A (p, q)-graph G is one with
p vertices and q edges. The shorthand symbol [m, n] stands
y1,1 y1,2 y1,3 y1,4 y1,5 y1,6
for an integer set {m, m + 1, m + 2, . . . , n}, where m and
y 2,1 y2,2 y2,3 y2.4 y3,1 y3,2 y3,3 y3,4
(a)
n are integers with 0 ≤ m < n; and the notation [m, n]o (b) (c)

indicates an odd-set {m, m + 2, . . . , n}, where m and n are x4,1 x4,2 x4,3 x4,4 x4,5 x4,6 x5,1 x5,2

odd integers with 1 ≤ m < n. A graph G has a proper

labeling f : V (G) → [0, q] if f (u) ̸= f (v) for distinct
u, v ∈ V (G). Correspondingly, each edge uv of G is assigned y4,1 y4,2 y4,3 y4,4 y4,5 y4,6 y4,7 y5,1 y5,2
by the value |f (u) − f (v)|, called the edge label and denoted (d) (e)
by f (uv) = |f (u) − f (v)|. For the purpose of convenience,
Fig. 1. Five graphs.
we write f (V (G)) = {f (u) : u ∈ V (G)}, f (E(G)) =
{f (uv) : uv ∈ E(G)}, and max(f ) = max f (V (G)) here. For k1 = 2, k2 = 3, k3 = 4, and k4 = 1, we get an irregular
Non-defined terms and notation can be found in [3]. dragon graph G = G\ i Gi+1 (5) shown in Fig. 2 by identifying
A. Notation and definitions yi,ni −ki +j with yi+1,j into one vertex for j ∈ [1, ki ] and i ∈
[1, 4].
Definition 1. [1] Let f be a labelling of a (p, q)-graph G. Such
that each vertex u of G is assigned a number f (u) ∈ [0, 2q−1] II. M AIN R ESULTS
with f (u) ̸= f (v) for u ̸= v in G, and the label of an edge An example for illustrating Theorem 1 is given in Fig. 3
uv of G is defined f (uv) =| f (u) − f (v) | and f (E(G)) = and Fig. 4.
[1, 2q − 1]. Then f is called an odd-graceful labelling, so say,
G is odd-graceful. Furthermore, let (X, Y ) be the bipartition Theorem 1. Let Kli ,ni stand for a complete bipartite graph.
of a bipartite (p′ , q ′ )-graph H, if H admits an odd-graceful An irregular dragon graph G = K\ li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m) defined
labelling f such that max{f (x) : x ∈ X} < min{f (y) : y ∈ in Definition 2 and m ≥ 2 admits odd-graceful labellings.
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978-1-4799-2030-3 /14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE

415
 x1,1 x1,2 x1,3 x1,4 x1,5 x3,1 x3,2 x5,1 x5,2 0 12 24 36 48

y4,1 y4,2 y4,3

y3,1 y3,2 y3,3 y4,4 y5,1
y1,5 y1,6 y2,3 y2,4 y3,4 y4,5 y4,6 y4,7 y5,2
y1,1 y1,2 y1,3 y1,4 y2,1 y2,2 91 89
97 95 93
103 101 99

x2,1 x2,2 x2,3 x2,4 x4,1 x4,2 x4,3 x4,4 x4,5 x4,6

Fig. 2. An irregular dragon graph G = K\ li ,ni K l

i+1 ,ni+1
(5) for
explaining Definition 2, where Kli ,ni for i ∈ [1, 5] 54 62 70 78 82 88
are shown in Fig. 1. d (3)
Fig. 4. An irregular graph G = HH
has an odd-graceful labelling.

0 12 24 36 48 54 62 70 78 82 88
[1, li−1 ], and

93 91 89
f (xi,li )
97 95 93 91
103 101 99 97 95 93
o o ∑
i
[45,103] o [13,43] [1,11]
= 2ni (li − 1) + 2 (nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + kh−1 )
d (3) with
Fig. 3. Three decomposed graph of G = HH h=1
an odd-graceful labelling. ∑
i
= 2ni (li − 1) + 2(nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + kh−1 )
h=1
(5)
∑
i
Proof: Let (Xi , Yi ) be the bipartition of V (Kli ,ni ), where < 2[(nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + kh−1 )
Xi = {xi,1 , xi,2 , . . . , xi,li }, Yi = {yi,1 , yi,2 , . . . , yi,ni } for i ∈ h=1
[1, m] and m ≥ 2. We identify yi,ni −ki +j ∈ Yi with yi+1,j ∈ + ni li − ni + ki ]
Yi+1 into one vertex for j ∈ [1, ki ] and i ∈ [1, m − 1], so we = f (xi+1,1 );
obtain an irregular dragon graphs G = K\ K (m)
∪m li ,ni li+1 ,n ∪i+1
m and f (yi,t ) > f (yi,t+1 ), t ∈ [1, ni ]. According to (4) and
which bipartition (X, Y ), where X = i=1 Xi , Y = i=1 Yi .
Use Definition 2. For the convenience of discussion, let Definition 2, f (yi,ni ) = f (yi+1,ki ) for i ∈ [1, m − 1], and
furthermore
f (ym,nm ) − f (xm,lm )
q = l1 n1 + l2 n2 + · · · + lm nm = |E(G)|. (3) ∑
m
= 2q − 1 − 2(nm − 1) − 2 (nh−1 − kh−1 )−
[ h=1
]
We label the vertices of each subgraph Kli ,ni of the irregular ∑
m
(6)
2nm (lm − 1) + 2 (ni−1 li−1 − ni−1 + ki−1 )
dragon graph G by a new labeling ∑i f defined in the following: i=1
(1) f (xi,j ) = 2ni (j −1)+2 h=1 (nh−1 lh−1 −nh−1 +kh−1 ),
∑
m
j ∈ [1, li ], i ∈ [1, m], n0 l0 − n0 + k0 = 0; = 2q − 1 + 2 − 2 nm lm = 1,
∑i
(2) f (yi,t ) = 2q − 1 − 2(t − 1) − 2 h=1 (ni−1 − ki−1 ), h=1
t ∈ [1, nm ], i ∈ [1, m], n0 − k0 = 0. Notice that for j ∈ [1, ki ] which means that f (xi,j ) < f (ys,t ) for xi,j ∈ X and ys,t ∈ Y ,
and i ∈ [1, m − 1] we have that is, f (X) < f (Y ). Notice that, the label of each edge
xi,j yi,t ∈ E(Kli ,ni ) is equal to

f (yi,ni −ki +j ) f (xi,j yi,t ) = |f (xi,j ) − f (yi,t )|

= (2q − 1) − 2(ni − ki + j − 1) ∑
i
= 2q − 1 − 2(t − 1) − 2 (nh−1 − kh−1 )−
∑
i
h=1
−2 (nh−1 − kh−1 ) [ ]
h=1 (4) ∑
i
2ni (j − 1) + 2 (nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + kh−1 )
∑
i
h=1 (7)
= 2q − 1 − 2(j − 1) − 2 (nh − kh )
h=1
∑
i
= 2q − 1 − 2t + 2 − 2ni j + 2ni − 2 nh−1 lh−1
= f (yi+1,j ). h=1
∑
i
= 2q + 1 − 2t − 2ni (j − 1) − 2 nh−1 lh−1 .
For each i ∈ [1, m], we have f (xi,j ) < f (xi,j+1 ) for j ∈ h=1

416
For any pair of edges xi,j yi,t and xi,j ′ yi,t ′ of Kli ,ni for i ∈ adopt the symbols of Definition 3 in the following. Let M =
[1, m], if f (xi,j yi,t ) = f (xi,j ′ yi,t ′ ), we have t + ni j = t ′ + q − l 1 n 1 + l 2 n 2 + · · · + lm n m .
ni j ′ , or ni (j − j ′ ) = t ′ − t according to (7). Because of According to Definition 2, we can construct an irregular
t ′ , t ∈ [1, ni ] and |t ′ − t| < ni for j ̸= j ′ , we get ni < dragon graph G = K\ li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m), and then we define a
|ni (j − j ′ )| = |t ′ − t| < ni ; a contradiction. Thereby, the set proper labelling f for m complete bipartite graphs Kli ,ni as:
∑i
of edge labels of Kli ,ni is equal to (1) f (xi,j ) = 2ni (j − 1) + 2 h=1 (nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 +
kh−1 ), j ∈ [1, li ], i ∈ [1, m], n0 l0 − n0 ∑ + k0 = 0;
f (E(Kli ,ni )) = [f (yi,ni ) − f (xi,li ), f (yi,1 ) − f (xi,1 )]o i
(2) f (yi,t ) = 2q − 1 − 2(t − 1) − 2 h=1 (nh−1 − kh−1 ),
∑
i
t ∈ [1, nm ], i ∈ [1, m], n0 − k0 = 0.
= [2q + 1 − 2ni li − 2 nh−1 lh−1 , 2q − 1−
∑Notice that max f (X) = f (xm,lm ) = 2nm (lm − 1) +
h=1 m
2 h=1 (nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + k∑ h−1 ), min f (Y ) = f (ym,nm ) =
∑
i m
(2q − 1) − 2(nm − 1) − 2 h=1 (nh−1 − kh−1 ), the min-
2 nh−1 lh−1 ]o .
h=1
imum edge label of the irregular dragon graph G =
K\li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m) is
For Kli ,ni and Kli+1 ,ni+1 with i ∈ [1, m], we can get
f (xm,lm ym,nm ) = f (ym,nm ) − f (xm,lm )
f (E(Kli ,ni )) ∪ f (E(Kli+1 ,ni+1 ))
∑m
(10)
∑
i = 2q + 1 − 2nm lm − 2 (nh−1 lh−1 ).
= [2q + 1 − 2ni li − 2 nh−1 lh−1 , 2q − 1− h=1
h=1
According to the proof of Theorem 1, if i ′ > i, we have
∑
i ∪
2 nh−1 lh−1 ]o [2q + 1 − 2ni+1 li+1 − f (xi,j ) < f (xi ′ ,t ) and f (yi,j ) ≥ f (yi ′ ,t ), and f (xi,j ) <
h=1
f (ys,t ), which show that f (X) < f (Y ). The union of edge
∑
i+1 ∑
i+1 labelling sets of m complete bipartite graphs Kli ,ni equals to
(8)
2 nh−1 lh−1 , 2q − 1 − 2 nh−1 lh−1 ]o
h=1 h=1 ∪
m

∑
i+1 f (E(Kli ,ni ))
= [2q + 1 − 2ni+1 li+1 − 2 nh−1 lh−1 , 2q − 1 i=1
h=1 ∪
m
= [f (yi,ni ) − f (xi,li ), f (yi,1 ) − f (xi,1 )]o
∑
i
−2 nh−1 lh−1 ]o . i=1

h=1 ∪m ∑
i
(11)
= [2q + 1 − 2ni li − 2 nh−1 lh−1 ,
Thereby, we have i=1 h=1
∪
m ∑
i
f (E(G)) = f (E(Kli ,ni )) 2q − 1 − 2 nh−1 lh−1 ]o
i=1 h=1
∪
m ∑
i = [2M + 1, 2q − 1]o
= [2q + 1 − 2ni li − 2 nh−1 lh−1 ,
i=1 h=1
(9)
0 12 24 36 48 52 60 68 76 82 90
∑
i
2q − 1 − 2 nh−1 lh−1 ] o

h=1
= [1, 2q − 1] . 0
205 203 201 199 197 195 197 195 193 191 195 193 191 189
o o o
[147, 205] [115, 145] [99, 113]
So, we claim that f is an odd-graceful labelling of G = 174
K\
170 178
98 112 126 140 154 168
li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m).
The proof of the theorem is complete.
Theorem 2. For any given integer q > 0, there exists a dragon 195 193 183 181 183
191 189 187 185 183 181 179
graph of q edges that admits odd-graceful labellings. o o o
[15, 97] [7, 13] [1,5]

Proof: We construct an irregular dragon graph F of q d

edges in the following.
Case 1. If there are li and ni for i ∈ [1, m] such that
q = l1 n1 + l2 n2 + · · · + lm nm and m ≥ 2, this is just the case
of Theorem 1, we are done.
Case 2. If q ̸= l1 n1 + l2 n2 + · · · + lm nm , we select an
integer m such that 0 < q − l1 n1 + l2 n2 + · · · + lm nm , and
Fig. 5. Six decomposed graph of G = HH(5) with an
odd-graceful labelling.
When k1 = 2, k2 = 3, k3 = 4, k4 = 1, and k5 = 2, we
have Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.
For the rest of M edges, we will discuss it in following:
Case a. If M ∈ [1, 3], set K ∗ = K1,e , Let (X ∗ , Y ∗ )

417
 0 12 24 36 48 82 90
197 195 193 191 189
205 203 201 199
52 60 68 76
Fig. 6. An example for illustrating Theorem 4
be the bipartition of K ∗ , where X ∗ = {xm+1,1 } and
Y ∗ = {ym+1,1 , · · · , ym+1,e }, E(K ∗ ) = {xm+1,1 ym+1,e :
f (ym+1,e ) − f (xm+1,1 ) ≥ 1, e ∈ [1, M ]}. In F , each ym+1,e
of K ∗ is overlapped with ym,nm −km +e for e ∈ [1, M ]. We
label the vertices of K ∗ as: f (xm+1,1 ) = f (xm,lm ) + 2km ,
f (ym+1,e ) = f (ym,nm −km +e )−2(e−1), e ∈ [1, M ], km refers
to the number f (ym+1,j ′ ) = f (ym,j ). According to the proof
of Theorem 1, f (xm+1,1 ym+1,e ) ̸= f (xm+1,1 ym+1,e ′ ) is true
for different edges xm+1,1 ym+1,e , xm+1,1 ym+1,e ′ ∈ E(K ∗ ).
We have f (xm+1,1 ym+1,1 ) = f (ym+1,1 ) − f (xm+1,1 ) =
f (ym,nm −km +1 ) − f (xm,lm ) − 2km = 2M − 1. From the
selection of edge sets of K ∗ , each edge xm+1,1 ym+1,e always
satisfies f (xm+1,1 ym+1,e ) = f (ym+1,e ) − f (xm+1,1 ) > 0,
and the labelling of each edge xm+1,1 ym+1,e ∈ E(K ∗ ) is
f (xm+1,1 ym+1,e ) = f (ym+1,e ) − f (xm+1,1 )
= f (ym,nm −km +e ) − 2(e − 1) − f (xm,lm ) − 2km
= 2q − 1 − 2(nm − km + e − 1) − 2(e − 1)−
∑
m stimulate further studies of networks[7].
2 (nh−1 − kh−1 ) − [2nm (lm − 1) + 2km +
h=1
∑m
2 (nh−1 lh−1 − nh−1 + kh−1 )]
h=1
= 2q + 3 − 4e − 2nm lm − 2
The (12) ensures that there exists an edge xm+1,1 ym+1,M
∈ E(K ∗ ) such that f (xm+1,1 ym+1,M ) = 1, M ∈ {1, 2, 3}.
According to (12), for e ∈ [1, M ], we have
f (xm+1,1 ym+1,M ) = f (ym+1,M ) − f (xm+1,1 )
= f (ym,nm −km +M ) − 2(M − 1) − f (xm,lm ) − 2km (13)
= 1.
∪m 1,e )) = [1, 2M −1] . By (13), we get
o
Hence, we obtain f (E(K
|E(K ∗ )| = M and i=1 f (E(Kli ,ni )) = [2M + 1, 2q − 1]o .
Notice that for e ∈ [1, M ], f (ym+1,e ) = f (ym,nm −km +e ),
where ym,nm −km +e ∈ V (Klm ,nm ). We identify ym+1,e of
K ∗ with ym,nm −km +e of the subgraph Klm ,nm of G into one
vertex for e ∈ [1, M ], and then f (X) < f (Y ), which shows
that F is an irregular dragon graph with q edges, Hence, f is
an odd-graceful labelling of F .
Case b. If M ≥ 4, we take η ≡ M ( mod 4) such that
M = sK2,2 + η with η ∈ [0, 3] and s is an integer and s ≥ 1.
Clearly, we have G = K\
li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m + s) and |K | = η.
∗
When M ≡ 0 ( mod 4), we take K = K2,2 , the
resulting graph is denoted as G = K\ li ,ni K li+1 ,ni+1 (m + s).
170 174
In this case, The vertex labels are the same as Theorem 1 for
km , km+1 , · · · , km+s ∈ [1, 2].
187 185 183 181 179
For the rest of cases, we take K ∗ = K1,e and |K ∗ | = η.
Let (X ∗ , Y ∗ ) be the bipartition of K ∗ = K1,e , where
X ∗ = {xm+s,1 } and Y ∗ = {ym+s,1 , . . . , ym+p,η }, E(K ∗ ) =
98 112 126 140 154 168 178 {xm+s,1 ym+s,e : e ∈ [1, η]}. The vertex labels are the same
as that Case a. The proof of theorem is complete.
Corollary 3. For integers ∆, q > 0, there exists an irregular
dragon graph having maximum degree ∆, q edges and odd-
graceful labellings.
Proof: When ∆ = 2β, let Hi = Kβ,2β , according to
Theorem 2, we can get a dragon graph of F ∗ edges with q.
When ∆ = 2β + 1, let Hi = Kβ,2β+1 . Similarly, we can get
a dragon graph of F ∗ having q edges.
III. C ONCLUSION AND F UTURE W ORK
Many networks in nature can be described by complex
network models, which are structures consisting of nodes
or vertices connected by links or edges. Many models of
networks have already existed before, we have studied some
labelling properties of non-uniformly models to form more
complex models of networks. However, we do not present
any algorithm on our models although it is very important for
simulating networks. But our methods can be transferred into
algorithms since our methods based on constructive labellings
(see the proof of Theorem 1). We hope that our work will
(12) ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank the referees for their valuable
and thoughtful suggestions, which greatly improve the present
paper. This research was partly supported by the National
∑
m
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61163054,
nh−1 lh−1 .
No. 61363060 and Grant No. 61163037) and Natural Science
h=1
Foundation of Gansu Province (3ZS051-A25-025).
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