Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem PDF Author: Robert A. Wilson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019158360X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
The four-colour theorem is one of the famous problems of mathematics, that frustrated generations of mathematicians from its birth in 1852 to its solution (using substantial assistance from electronic computers) in 1976. The theorem asks whether four colours are sufficient to colour all conceivable maps, in such a way that countries with a common border are coloured with different colours. The book discusses various attempts to solve this problem, and some of the mathematics which developed out of these attempts. Much of this mathematics has developed a life of its own, and forms a fascinating part of the subject now known as graph theory. The book is designed to be self-contained, and develops all the graph-theoretical tools needed as it goes along. It includes all the elementary graph theory that should be included in an introduction to the subject, before concentrating on specific topics relevant to the four-colour problem. Part I covers basic graph theory, Euler's polyhedral formula, and the first published false `proof' of the four-colour theorem. Part II ranges widely through related topics, including map-colouring on surfaces with holes, the famous theorems of Kuratowski, Vizing, and Brooks, the conjectures of Hadwiger and Hajos, and much more besides. In Part III we return to the four-colour theorem, and study in detail the methods which finally cracked the problem.

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-Colour Theorem PDF Author: Robert A. Wilson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019158360X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
The four-colour theorem is one of the famous problems of mathematics, that frustrated generations of mathematicians from its birth in 1852 to its solution (using substantial assistance from electronic computers) in 1976. The theorem asks whether four colours are sufficient to colour all conceivable maps, in such a way that countries with a common border are coloured with different colours. The book discusses various attempts to solve this problem, and some of the mathematics which developed out of these attempts. Much of this mathematics has developed a life of its own, and forms a fascinating part of the subject now known as graph theory. The book is designed to be self-contained, and develops all the graph-theoretical tools needed as it goes along. It includes all the elementary graph theory that should be included in an introduction to the subject, before concentrating on specific topics relevant to the four-colour problem. Part I covers basic graph theory, Euler's polyhedral formula, and the first published false `proof' of the four-colour theorem. Part II ranges widely through related topics, including map-colouring on surfaces with holes, the famous theorems of Kuratowski, Vizing, and Brooks, the conjectures of Hadwiger and Hajos, and much more besides. In Part III we return to the four-colour theorem, and study in detail the methods which finally cracked the problem.

The Four-Color Theorem

The Four-Color Theorem PDF Author: Rudolf Fritsch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461217202
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This book discusses a famous problem that helped to define the field now known as topology: What is the minimum number of colors required to print a map so that no two adjoining countries have the same color? This problem remained unsolved until the 1950s, when it was finally cracked using a computer. This book discusses the history and mathematics of the problem, as well as the philosophical debate which ensued, regarding the validity of computer generated proofs.

Four Colors Suffice

Four Colors Suffice PDF Author: Robin J. Wilson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691120232
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
On October 23, 1852, Professor Augustus De Morgan wrote a letter to a colleague, unaware that he was launching one of the most famous mathematical conundrums in history--one that would confound thousands of puzzlers for more than a century. This is the amazing story of how the "map problem" was solved. The problem posed in the letter came from a former student: What is the least possible number of colors needed to fill in any map (real or invented) so that neighboring counties are always colored differently? This deceptively simple question was of minimal interest to cartographers, who saw little need to limit how many colors they used. But the problem set off a frenzy among professional mathematicians and amateur problem solvers, among them Lewis Carroll, an astronomer, a botanist, an obsessive golfer, the Bishop of London, a man who set his watch only once a year, a California traffic cop, and a bridegroom who spent his honeymoon coloring maps. In their pursuit of the solution, mathematicians painted maps on doughnuts and horseshoes and played with patterned soccer balls and the great rhombicuboctahedron. It would be more than one hundred years (and countless colored maps) later before the result was finally established. Even then, difficult questions remained, and the intricate solution--which involved no fewer than 1,200 hours of computer time--was greeted with as much dismay as enthusiasm. Providing a clear and elegant explanation of the problem and the proof, Robin Wilson tells how a seemingly innocuous question baffled great minds and stimulated exciting mathematics with far-flung applications. This is the entertaining story of those who failed to prove, and those who ultimately did prove, that four colors do indeed suffice to color any map.

Four Colors Suffice

Four Colors Suffice PDF Author: Robin Wilson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691158223
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
First published: London: Allen Lane, 2002, under title Four colours suffice.

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-colour Theorem

Graphs, Colourings and the Four-colour Theorem PDF Author: Robert Wilson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198510616
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Robert Wilson discusses the four-colour theorem and some of the mathematics which developed out of attempts to solve it. He covers basic graph theory, Euler's polyhedral formula and the first published false solution of the four-colour problem.

The Four-color Problem

The Four-color Problem PDF Author: Thomas L. Saaty
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780486650920
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description


The Four-color Problem

The Four-color Problem PDF Author: Thomas L. Saaty
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description


Every Planar Map is Four Colorable

Every Planar Map is Four Colorable PDF Author: Kenneth I. Appel
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 0821851039
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 741

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Book Description
In this volume, the authors present their 1972 proof of the celebrated Four Color Theorem in a detailed but self-contained exposition accessible to a general mathematical audience. An emended version of the authors' proof of the theorem, the book contains the full text of the supplements and checklists, which originally appeared on microfiche. The thiry-page introduction, intended for nonspecialists, provides some historical background of the theorem and details of the authors' proof. In addition, the authors have added an appendix which treats in much greater detail the argument for situations in which reducible configurations are immersed rather than embedded in triangulations. This result leads to a proof that four coloring can be accomplished in polynomial time.

The Four-Color Problem

The Four-Color Problem PDF Author:
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 9780080873398
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The Four-Color Problem

Introduction to Graph Theory

Introduction to Graph Theory PDF Author: Koh Khee Meng
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9813101636
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Graph theory is an area in discrete mathematics which studies configurations (called graphs) involving a set of vertices interconnected by edges. This book is intended as a general introduction to graph theory and, in particular, as a resource book for junior college students and teachers reading and teaching the subject at H3 Level in the new Singapore mathematics curriculum for junior college. The book builds on the verity that graph theory at this level is a subject that lends itself well to the development of mathematical reasoning and proof.