The structure of graphs with given number of blocks and the maximum Wiener index

05/07/2019

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by   Stéphane Bessy, et al.

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The Wiener index (the distance) of a connected graph is the sum of distances between all pairs of vertices. In this paper, we study the maximum possible value of this invariant among graphs on n vertices with fixed number of blocks p. It is known that among graphs on n vertices that have just one block, the n-cycle has the largest Wiener index. And the n-path, which has n-1 blocks, has the maximum Wiener index in the class of graphs on n vertices. We show that among all graphs on n vertices which have p> 2 blocks, the maximum Wiener index is attained by a graph composed of two cycles joined by a path (here we admit that one or both cycles can be replaced by a single edge, as in the case p=n-1 for example).