The maximum number of cycles in the complement of a tree (Q1101118)

Let T be a tree and c(T') denote the number of cycles in the complement T' of T. For a fixed integer n, left f(n) be the maximum value of c(T') over all trees T with n vertices. In [Discrete Math. 15, 163-174 (1976; Zbl 0352.05038)] and [``Unsolved problems''-section, Graph theory, Proc. 1st Southeast Asian Colloq., Singapore 1983, Lect. Notes Math. 1073, 324- 335 (1984; Zbl 0542.05002)], \textit{K. B. Reid} conjectured that there is an \(N\leq 12\) such that for all \(n\geq N\), f(n) is exactly the number of cycles in the complement of a path on n vertices. He also conjectured that the path is the unique extremal graph. The author settles these conjectures in the affirmative.