# Is the minimum spanning tree a minimum-altitude connected subgraph

I'm not sure if my solution to the following problem (adapted from Exercise 20, Chapter 4 of Algorithm Design by Jon Kleinberg and Éva Tardos) is correct. I would appreciate it if anyone could point out any logical flaws in it.

The problem:

Let $$G=(V,E)$$ be a connected graph on $$n$$ nodes. Suppose each edge $$e$$ in the graph is annotated with a number $$a_e$$ (an "altitude"), and that no two edges have the same altitude. The height of a path $$P$$ in the graph is the maximum of $$a_e$$ over all edges $$e$$ on $$P$$. A path between two nodes $$i$$ and $$j$$ is said to be optimal if it achieves the minimum possible height over all paths from $$i$$ to $$j$$.

Let $$E'\subseteq E$$, and let $$(V, E')$$ be a connected subgraph. We say that $$(V, E')$$ is a minimum-altitude connected subgraph if for every pair of nodes $$i$$ and $$j$$, the height of the optimal path in $$(V, E')$$ is no greater than it is in the full graph $$G=(V, E)$$.

Prove that the minimum spanning tree of $$G$$, with respect to the edge weights $$a_e$$, is a minimum-altitude connected subgraph.

My solution:

Let $$T$$ be the minimum spanning tree of $$G$$ (it is unique because the edge weights are distinct). Assume for the sake of contradiction that $$T$$ is not a minimum-altitude connected subgraph. Then there exist nodes $$v$$ and $$w$$ such that the height of the $$v-w$$ path in $$T$$ is greater than the height of the optimal $$v-w$$ path in $$G$$. Denote the $$v-w$$ path in $$T$$ by $$P_T$$, its height by $$h_T$$, and the edge on $$P_T$$ with maximum altitude by $$e_T$$. Likewise, denote the optimal $$v-w$$ path in $$G$$ by $$P_G$$ and its height by $$h_G$$.

Consider the cut in $$T$$ defined by $$e_T$$, which partitions $$V$$ into two sets, one containing $$v$$ and the other containing $$w$$. Note that because $$P_G$$ is a $$v-w$$ path, it must contain an edge $$e_c$$ that crosses this cut. However, by the Cut Property, we know that $$e_T$$ is the crossing edge with minimum altitude, meaning $$a_{e_c} \geq a_{e_T}$$. Thus $$P_G$$ must contain an edge with an altitude at least as large as the altitude of the maximum-altitude edge on $$P_T$$. This contradicts our initial assumption that $$T$$ is not a minimum-altitude connected subgraph.

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Jul 6 '21 at 22:40