Math with Bad DrawingsCartoon Archive

Has Anyone Tried Squinting at Them?

April 5, 2022From the book Math Games with Bad Drawings

Deciding whether two graphs have the same structure (graph isomorphism) is a famously hard problem. One person suggests just squinting.

Transcript

[Three graphs that look different but are structurally the same] "Which graphs are structurally identical? It's one of the most vexing problems in applied math!" "So you say. But has anyone tried squinting at them?"

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Free for classrooms, worksheets, slides and other non-commercial use under CC BY-NC 4.0, with credit to Ben Orlin.

Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2022-04-05-has-anyone-tried-squinting-at-them/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Topics
Discrete Math › Graph TheoryAdvanced Math › Abstract Algebra › Group Theory › Isomorphisms
Level
College
Themes
Puzzles & Problems