$G$ has exactly $n-1$ edges implies every edge of $G$ is a bridge

Question

Let $G$ be a connected simple graph on $n$ vertices. Show that $G$ has exactly $n-1$ edges implies every edge of $G$ is a bridge.

The above statement is obviously true. Some textbooks even use this statements as the definition of a tree. However, my teacher suggests us to prove it directly as an exercise. It would be great if you can verify my proof below and/or give another direct proof of the statement.

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Latest version:

We proceed by induction on $n$, the number of vertices of $G$. For the case $n=2$, $G$ has 2 vertices and 1 edge. It is clear that this edge is a bridge.

Assume $G$ has $n$ vertices and exactly $n-1$ edges. We claim that there must exist a vertex $v$ with $\text{deg}(v)=1$. If the claim is not correct, then $$n-1 = \text{number of edges} = \frac{1}{2} \times \text{sum of degree} \geq \frac{1}{2} \times 2n=n$$ which is a contradiction. Hence, such $v$ exists, with only one edge $\alpha$ incident to it. Now, on the removal of $\alpha$, $G$ is partitioned into two connected component $G_1$ and $G_2$. In particular, $G_1=\{v\}$ is a singleton. Hence, $\alpha$ is a bridge. By induction hypothesis, $G_2$ has $n-1$ vertices and exactly $n-2$ edges, thus every edge in $G_2$ is a bridge. Hence, every edge in $G$ is a bridge.

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Wrong version:

We proceed by induction on $n$, the number of vertices of $G$. For the case $n=2$, $G$ has 2 vertices and 1 edge. It is clear that this edge is a bridge.

Assume that $G$ has $n-1$ vertices and exactly $n-2$ edges. By the induction hypothesis, these $n-2$ edges are bridges. Now, we choose an arbitrary vertex in G, join it to a newly-added vertex $v$ by an edge $\alpha$. It remains to show $\alpha$ is a bridge. Note that, on the removal of $\alpha$, the graph will become disconnected as there will be no edge incident to $v$. Hence, $\alpha$ is indeed a bridge and we are done.

Answer 1

Another proof by contradiction would be:

Suppose $G=(V,E)$ is a connected Graph with $|V|=n$ and $|E|=n-1$ and $G$ has at least one edge $e_B$ that is not a bridge. We know that an edge is a bridge if and only if it is not contained in a cycle. Since $e_B$ is a bridge, $e_B$ has to be part of a cycle between some vertices $V_1=\{v_1,...,v_k\}$. It follows that these vertices have to be connected with at least $k$ edges.

Now we look at the $n-k$ remaining vertices $V_2=\{v_{k+1},...,v_n\}$. Since $k$ edges are part of the cycle descibed above and only connect some vertices of $V_1$, there can not be more than $|E|-k=n-k-1$ edges which connect between vertices of $V_2$.

We know that at least $m-1$ edges are required to connect $m$ vertices. $n-k-1$ edges and $n-k$ vertices are not part of the cycle, but because at least one vertex of $V_2$ has to be connected to one vertex of $V_1$ (because if not, $G$ wouldn't be connected), at least $n-k-1+1=n-k$ edges not part of the cycle would be required for $G$ to be connected. Therefore, $G$ can not be connected. $\square$

I had some trouble to express my thoughts, so please feel free to comment if something isn't clear.