Descartes snark

{{Infobox graph

| name = Descartes snark

| image = 200px

| image_caption = Image of a Descartes snark.

| namesake = Blanche Descartes

| vertices = 210

| edges = 315

| girth = 5

| chromatic_index = 4

| properties = Cubic
Snark

}}

In the mathematical field of graph theory, a Descartes snark is an undirected graph with 210 vertices and 315 edges. It is a snark, a graph with three edges at each vertex that cannot be partitioned into three perfect matchings. It was first discovered by William Tutte in 1948 under the pseudonym Blanche Descartes.{{citation

| last = Descartes | first = Blanche | author-link = Blanche Descartes

| doi = 10.2307/3610702

| journal = The Mathematical Gazette

| jstor = 3610702

| mr = 26309

| pages = 67–69

| title = Network-colourings

| volume = 32

| year = 1948}}

A Descartes snark is obtained from the Petersen graph by replacing each vertex with a nonagon and each edge with a particular graph closely related to the Petersen graph. Because there are multiple ways to perform this procedure, there are multiple Descartes snarks.

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Category:Graph families

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