Editing Directed acyclic graph (section)

== Definitions ==
A [[Graph (discrete mathematics)|graph]] is formed by [[vertex (graph theory)|vertices]] and by [[edge (graph theory)|edges]] connecting pairs of vertices, where the vertices can be any kind of object that is connected in pairs by edges. In the case of a [[directed graph]], each edge has an orientation, from one vertex to another vertex. A [[Path (graph theory)|path]] in a directed graph is a sequence of edges having the property that the ending vertex of each edge in the sequence is the same as the starting vertex of the next edge in the sequence; a path forms a cycle if the starting vertex of its first edge equals the ending vertex of its last edge. A directed acyclic graph is a directed graph that has no cycles.<ref name="thul">{{citation|title=Graphs: Theory and Algorithms|first1=K.|last1=Thulasiraman|first2=M. N. S.|last2=Swamy|publisher=John Wiley and Son|year=1992|isbn=978-0-471-51356-8|contribution=5.7 Acyclic Directed Graphs|page=118}}.</ref><ref name="bang">{{citation|title=Digraphs: Theory, Algorithms and Applications|first1=Jørgen|last1=Bang-Jensen|series=Springer Monographs in Mathematics|edition=2nd|publisher=Springer-Verlag|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84800-997-4|contribution=2.1 Acyclic Digraphs|pages=32–34}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Graph theory: an algorithmic approach|first=Nicos|last=Christofides|author-link=Nicos Christofides|publisher=Academic Press|year=1975|pages=170–174}}.</ref>

A vertex {{mvar|v}} of a directed graph is said to be [[Reachability|reachable]] from another vertex {{mvar|u}} when there exists a path that starts at {{mvar|u}} and ends at {{mvar|v}}. As a special case, every vertex is considered to be reachable from itself (by a path with zero edges). If a vertex can reach itself via a nontrivial path (a path with one or more edges), then that path is a cycle, so another way to define directed acyclic graphs is that they are the graphs in which no vertex can reach itself via a nontrivial path.<ref>{{citation|title=Simulation Techniques for Discrete Event Systems|volume=14|series=Cambridge Computer Science Texts|first=I.|last=Mitrani|year=1982|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521282826|page=27|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CF04AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA27}}.</ref>