A short proof of a theorem of Kano and Yu on factors in regular graphs.
The Path Partition Conjecture (PPC) states that if G is any graph and (λ1, λ2) any pair of positive integers such that G has no path with more than λ1 + λ2 vertices, then there exists a partition (V1, V2) of the vertex set of G such that Vi has no path with more than λi vertices, i = 1, 2. We present a brief history of the PPC, discuss its relation to other conjectures and survey results on the PPC that have appeared in the literature since its first formulation in 1981.
We prove that the smallest cardinality of a maximal packing in any tree is at most the cardinality of an R-annihilated set. As a corollary to this result we point out that a set of parameters of trees involving packing, perfect neighbourhood, R-annihilated, irredundant and dominating sets is totally ordered. The class of trees for which all these parameters are equal is described and we give an example of a tree in which most of them are distinct.