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Minimal rankings and the arank number of a path. (English) Zbl 1101.05040
A $$k$$-ranking of a graph $$G=(V,E)$$ is a surjective colouring $$c : V \to \{1,2,\dots,k\}$$ such that each $$u$$–$$w$$-path with $$c(u) = c(w)$$ contains an internal vertex $$v$$ with $$c(v) > c(u)$$. A $$k$$-ranking is minimal if the reduction of any colour greater than $$1$$ violates this ranking property. The arank number $$\psi_{\text r}(G)$$ is the maximum value of $$k$$ such that $$G$$ has a minimal $$k$$-ranking, see e.g. J. Ghoshal, R. Laskar and D. Pillone [Ars Comb. 52, 181–198 (1999; Zbl 0977.05048)].
This note shows $$\psi_{\text r}(P_s) = 2m-2$$ for all $$s \geq 2$$ with $$2^m - 2^{m-2} - 1 \leq s \leq 2^m - 2$$, and $$\psi_{\text r}(P_t) = 2m-1$$ for all $$t \geq 2$$ with $$2^m - 1 \leq t \leq 2^{m+1} - 2^{m-1} - 2$$, where $$P_n$$ denotes the path on $$n$$ vertices.

##### MSC:
 05C35 Extremal problems in graph theory 05C15 Coloring of graphs and hypergraphs 05C38 Paths and cycles 05C78 Graph labelling (graceful graphs, bandwidth, etc.)
vertex ranking
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##### References:
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