Frugal coloring of graphs revisited
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arXiv
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2026
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| author | Brešar, Boštjan Hu, Wenjie Samadi, Babak |
| author_facet | Brešar, Boštjan Hu, Wenjie Samadi, Babak |
| contents | Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $t$, an independent set $S\subseteq V(G)$ is $t$-frugal if every vertex has at most $t$ neighbors in $S$. A $t$-frugal coloring of $G$ is a partition of its vertex set into $t$-frugal independent sets. The maximum cardinality of a $t$-frugal independent set in $G$ is denoted by $α_t^f(G)$, while the minimum cardinality of a $t$-frugal coloring of $G$, $χ_t^f(G)$, is called the $t$-frugal chromatic number of $G$. Frugal colorings were introduced in 1998 and studied later in just a handful of papers. In this paper, we revisit this concept. While the NP-hardness of frugal coloring is known, we prove that the decision version of $α_t^f$ is NP-complete even for bipartite graphs, and present a linear-time algorithm to determine its value for trees. We prove a general sharp lower bound on $χ_{t}^{f}(G)$ expressed in terms of $α_{t}^{f}(G)$ and size of $G$. We also give a sharp upper bound on the $α_2^f$ of any graph $G$, which in the case of graphs with minimum degree $δ\geq2$ simplifies to $α_2^f(G)\le 2n/(δ+2)$. We prove that $3\leχ_2^f(G)\le 5$ holds for any graph $G$ with $Δ(G)=3$. For several classes of graphs such as block graphs, the Cartesian and strong products of multiple two-way infinite paths, we determine the exact values of $α_2^f$. We provide sharp bounds on the $α_2^f$ in all four standard graph products, which are expressed as different invariants of their factors. Finally, we obtain Nordhaus-Gaddum type inequalities for the sum of the $2$-frugal chromatic numbers of $G$ and its complement from below and from above by functions of the order of $G$. For the upper bound $χ_{2}^{f}(G)+χ_{2}^{f}(\overline{G})\leq 3n/2$, we characterize the family of extremal graphs $G$. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_02876 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Frugal coloring of graphs revisited Brešar, Boštjan Hu, Wenjie Samadi, Babak Combinatorics Given a graph $G$ and a positive integer $t$, an independent set $S\subseteq V(G)$ is $t$-frugal if every vertex has at most $t$ neighbors in $S$. A $t$-frugal coloring of $G$ is a partition of its vertex set into $t$-frugal independent sets. The maximum cardinality of a $t$-frugal independent set in $G$ is denoted by $α_t^f(G)$, while the minimum cardinality of a $t$-frugal coloring of $G$, $χ_t^f(G)$, is called the $t$-frugal chromatic number of $G$. Frugal colorings were introduced in 1998 and studied later in just a handful of papers. In this paper, we revisit this concept. While the NP-hardness of frugal coloring is known, we prove that the decision version of $α_t^f$ is NP-complete even for bipartite graphs, and present a linear-time algorithm to determine its value for trees. We prove a general sharp lower bound on $χ_{t}^{f}(G)$ expressed in terms of $α_{t}^{f}(G)$ and size of $G$. We also give a sharp upper bound on the $α_2^f$ of any graph $G$, which in the case of graphs with minimum degree $δ\geq2$ simplifies to $α_2^f(G)\le 2n/(δ+2)$. We prove that $3\leχ_2^f(G)\le 5$ holds for any graph $G$ with $Δ(G)=3$. For several classes of graphs such as block graphs, the Cartesian and strong products of multiple two-way infinite paths, we determine the exact values of $α_2^f$. We provide sharp bounds on the $α_2^f$ in all four standard graph products, which are expressed as different invariants of their factors. Finally, we obtain Nordhaus-Gaddum type inequalities for the sum of the $2$-frugal chromatic numbers of $G$ and its complement from below and from above by functions of the order of $G$. For the upper bound $χ_{2}^{f}(G)+χ_{2}^{f}(\overline{G})\leq 3n/2$, we characterize the family of extremal graphs $G$. |
| title | Frugal coloring of graphs revisited |
| topic | Combinatorics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.02876 |