Hall's marriage theorem and regular bipartite graphs
Statement
Let be a finite bipartite graph with classes and . For , let be the set of vertices of adjacent to at least one vertex of .
- (Hall.) Prove that can be matched into if and only if for every .
- Deduce that a -regular bipartite graph () has a perfect matching.
- A deck of cards is dealt into piles of cards. Show that one can choose one card from each pile so that the chosen cards have all different ranks.
Hint
For part 1 use induction on , with two cases: either every proper nonempty has (slack), or some proper nonempty has (tight).
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Solution
1. () is clear: the partners of the vertices of are distinct elements of .
() Induction on ; the case is clear. Assume Hall's condition.
*Case 1: for every nonempty proper .* Pick any and any neighbour of . Remove and . For every nonempty , removing lowers the neighbourhood by at most , so . By induction can be matched, and we add the pair .
*Case 2: some nonempty proper has .* The graph induced on satisfies Hall's condition, so by induction is matched onto . In the rest of the graph,
So Hall's condition holds there and, by induction, is matched. The two matchings together match .
2. Counting edges, , so . For , there are edges leaving , and they all end in , where each vertex receives at most of them. So . By Hall, is matched into , and since this matching is perfect.
3. Let be the set of piles, the set of ranks. This is a -regular bipartite multigraph. A perfect matching is exactly the required choice.
Lesson. To prove a matching exists, check Hall's condition; for regular graphs, double count edges.