On the Edge-length Ratio of Outerplanar Graphs

Abstract: We show that any outerplanar graph admits a planar straightline drawing such that the length ratio of the longest to the shortest edges is strictly less than 2. This result is tight in the sense that for any $\epsilon > 0$ there are outerplanar graphs that cannot be drawn with an edge-length ratio smaller than $2 - \epsilon$. We also show that every bipartite outerplanar graph has a planar straight-line drawing with edge-length ratio 1, and that, for any $k \geq 1$, there exists an outerplanar graph with a given combinatorial embedding such that any planar straight-line drawing has edge-length ratio greater than k.