(definition)
Definition: The minimum number of colors needed to color the vertices of a graph such that no two adjacent vertices have the same color.
See also vertex coloring, chromatic index, Christofides algorithm.
Note: From Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, pages 7-19 and 7-21, Copyright © 1999 by CRC Press LLC. Appearing in the Dictionary of Computer Science, Engineering and Technology, Copyright © 2000 CRC Press LLC.
Author: CRC-A
If you have suggestions, corrections, or comments, please get in touch with Paul Black.
Entry modified 19 April 2004.
HTML page formatted Mon Feb 2 13:10:39 2015.
Cite this as:
Algorithms and Theory of Computation Handbook, CRC Press LLC, 1999, "chromatic number", in
Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures [online], Vreda Pieterse and Paul E. Black, eds. 19 April 2004. (accessed TODAY)
Available from: http://www.nist.gov/dads/HTML/chromatcnmbr.html