Graph theory is a branch of discrete combinatorial mathematics that studies the properties of graphs. The theory was pioneered by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in the 18th century, commenced its formal development during the second half of the 19th century, and has witnessed substantial growth during the last seventy years, with applications in areas as diverse as engineering, computer science, physics, sociology, chemistry and biology. Graph theory has also had a strong impact in computational linguistics by providing the foundations for the theory of features structures that has emerged as one of the most widely used frameworks for the representation of grammar formalisms.
Revised: September 19, 2007 |
Published: December 27, 2005
Citation
Sanfilippo A.P. 2005.Graph Theory. In Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, edited by Keith Brown. 140-142. Cambridge:Elsevier Science.PNNL-SA-45069.