A Creative Review on Integer Additive Set-Valued Graphs

Abstract

For a non-empty ground set $X$, finite or infinite, the {\em set-valuation} or {\em set-labeling} of a given graph $G$ is an injective function $f:V(G) \to \mathcal{P}(X)$, where $\mathcal{P}(X)$ is the power set of the set $X$. A set-indexer of a graph $G$ is an injective set-valued function $f:V(G) \to \mathcal{P}(X)$ such that the function $f^{\ast}:E(G)\to \mathcal{P}(X)-\{\emptyset\}$ defined by $f^{\ast}(uv) = f(u){\ast} f(v)$ for every $uv{\in} E(G)$ is also injective, where $\ast$ is a binary operation on sets. An integer additive set-indexer is defined as an injective function $f:V(G)\to \mathcal{P}({\mathbb{N}_0})$ such that the induced function $f^+:E(G) \to \mathcal{P}(\mathbb{N}_0)$ defined by $f^+ (uv) = f(u)+ f(v)$ is also injective, where $\mathbb{N}_0$ is the set of all non-negative integers. In this paper, we critically and creatively review the concepts and properties of integer additive set-valued graphs.