Combinatorics – Number of Bipartite Graphs Given Two Sets

bipartite-graphscombinatoricsdiscrete mathematicsgraph theory

I'm currently studying for an exam related to graphs, reason why I have been asking several question of this topic. In this case, I am confused about the definition of bipartite graph, at least up to a certain point.

I am asked to find how many bipartite graphs are there so that the two sets of vertices are $V = \{v_1\dots v_n\}, W = \{w_1\dots w_m\}$. The question doesn't seem difficult, but I was wondering if this reasoning looks sound:

Supposing that $n > m$ (if it weren't like that, I would modify the proceeding by changing the letter), for each $v_i \in V$, one chooses from $m$ vertices of the set $W$, and therefore there are $m^n$ options. However, there remains a question: is it valid that any vertex of the set $W$ isn't connected to no vertex of set $V$? Besides, I haven't taken into account that it could be a vertex or more of the set $V$ those disconnected. If this isn't valid, then I would say the answer is $m! S(n,m)$, being $S(n,m)$ the Stirling number of the second kind. To resume: how to calculate how many bipartite graphs are there?

Best Answer

One more hint.

In a total of $mn$ edges can be drawn in a bipartite graph with parts of size $m$ and $n$. Each of these edges we either conduct or not.

Addition. Hence we conclude that the number of labelled bipartite graphs is $2^{mn}$.

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