A note on independence number, connectivity and $k$-ended tree

Abstract

A $k$-ended tree is a tree with at most $k$ leaves. In this note, we give a simple proof for the following theorem. Let $G$ be a connected graph and $k$ be an integer ($k\geq 2$). Let $S$ be a vertex subset of $G$ such that $\alpha_{G}(S) \leq k + \kappa_{G}(S)- 1.$ Then, $G$ has a $k$-ended tree which covers $S.$ Moreover, the condition is sharp.