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Graphs drawn with few crossings per edge

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Abstract

We show that if a graph ofv vertices can be drawn in the plane so that every edge crosses at mostk>0 others, then its number of edges cannot exceed 4.108√kv. Fork≤4, we establish a better bound, (k+3)(v−2), which is tight fork=1 and 2. We apply these estimates to improve a result of Ajtai et al. and Leighton, providing a general lower bound for the crossing number of a graph in terms of its number of vertices and edges.

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Supported by NSF grant CCR-94-24398 and PSC-CUNY Research Award 667339.

Supported by OTKA-T-020914, OTKA-F-22234 and the Margaret and Herman Sokol Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.

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Pach, J., Tóth, G. Graphs drawn with few crossings per edge. Combinatorica 17, 427–439 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01215922

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01215922

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