The Girth reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Girth

In graph theory, the girth of a graph is the length of the shortest cycle contained in the graph. If the graph doesn't contain any cycles, its girth is defined to be infinity.

For example, a 4-cycle (square) has girth 4. A grid has girth 4 as well, and a triangular mesh has girth 3.

The Heawood graph in the figure on the left is the smallest trivalent graph with girth 6; the Petersen graph on the right is the smallest trivalent graph with girth 5.

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In common usage, girth refers to the circumference of a cylindrical object such as a tree trunk

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