Sparse graphs of girth at least five are packable (Q1759402)

A graph \(G\) of order \(n\) is packable if it is a subgraph of its complement. \textit{R. J. Faudree}, \textit{C. C. Rousseau}, \textit{R. H. Schelp}, and \textit{S. Schuster} [Czech. Math. J. 31(106), 53--62 (1981; Zbl 0479.05028)] conjectured that every non-star graph of girth at least five is packable. They proved it for graphs with at most \(\frac{6}{5}n-2\) edges. In the paper under review it is proved that the conjecture is true also when \(G\) has at most \(\frac{2k-1}{k}n-\alpha_k(n)\) edges, where \(k \geq 3\) and \(\alpha_k(n)\) is \(o(n)\) for every \(k\). This implies that the conjecture is true for sufficiently large planar graphs.