Maximum 4-degenerate subgraph of a planar graph (Q490312)

Summary: A graph \(G\) is \(k\)-degenerate if it can be transformed into an empty graph by subsequent removals of vertices of degree \(k\) or less. We prove that every connected planar graph with average degree \(d \geq 2\) has a 4-degenerate induced subgraph containing at least \( (38 - d)/36\) of its vertices. This shows that every planar graph of order \(n\) has a 4-degenerate induced subgraph of order more than \(8/9 \cdot n\). We also consider a local variation of this problem and show that in every planar graph with at least 7 vertices, deleting a suitable vertex allows us to subsequently remove at least 6 more vertices of degree four or less.