Tetracyclic graphs with maximum second Zagreb index: A simple approach

In the chemical graph theory, graph invariants are usually referred to as topological indices. The second Zagreb index (denoted by [Formula: see text]) is one of the most studied topological indices. For [Formula: see text], let [Formula: see text] be the collection of all non-isomorphic connected graphs with [Formula: see text] vertices and [Formula: see text] edges (such graphs are known as tetracyclic graphs). Recently, Habibi et al. [Extremal tetracyclic graphs with respect to the first and second Zagreb indices, Trans. on Combin. 5(4) (2016) 35–55.] characterized the graph having maximum [Formula: see text] value among all members of the collection [Formula: see text]. In this short note, an alternative but relatively simple approach is used for characterizing the aforementioned graph.