Wiki
Wiki

Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

Updated


Claim. For every graph GG with chromatic number χ(G)=r≥3\chi(G)=r\ge3, the number of labeled GG-free graphs on nn vertices is 2(1+o(1))ex(n;G)2^{(1+o(1))\mathrm{ex}(n;G)}, so the bound asked for in Problem 59 holds for every non-bipartite GG. The claimed result is Theorem 1.6 of P. Erdős, P. Frankl and V. Rödl, The asymptotic number of graphs not containing a fixed subgraph and a problem for hypergraphs having no exponent, Graphs Combin. 2 (1986), no. 1, 113--121: with Fn(H)F_n(H) the number of labeled HH-free graphs on nn vertices and Tn(Kr)T_n(K_r) the Turán number, "Suppose $\chi(H)=r\geq 3$. Then Fn(H)=2Tn(Kr)(1+o(1))F_n(H)=2^{T_n(K_r)(1+o(1))}" (Theorem 1.6, Section 1). Their Theorem 1.4 records Tn(Kr)≤ex(n;H)≤(1+o(1))Tn(Kr)T_n(K_r)\le\mathrm{ex}(n;H)\le(1+o(1))T_n(K_r), the Erdős--Stone--Simonovits theorem, which turns the exponent into (1+o(1))ex(n;H)(1+o(1))\mathrm{ex}(n;H). The engine is Theorem 1.5, a removal statement proved from Szemerédi's regularity lemma: for n>n0(ϵ0,H)n>n_0(\epsilon_0,H), fewer than ϵ0n2\epsilon_0n^2 edges can be deleted from any HH-free graph on nn vertices to leave a KrK_r-free graph. The authors write (p. 114) that the bound seems likely to hold for bipartite HH as well, a class that includes forests, and note that the bipartite case is open even for H=C4H=C_4, where the best upper bound was Kleitman and Winston's 2cn3/22^{cn^{3/2}}. The library card erdos_1986_asymptotic_number_graphs_not_containing_fixed digests the paper.

Covers. The question for every non-bipartite GG: the answer is yes. Nothing for bipartite GG, where the problem's answer is no by Morris and Saxton's C6C_6 construction (their claim page); the C4C_4 case the site's commentary raises separately is not covered.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.

Acceptance. Refereed publication in Graphs and Combinatorics (the publisher's record: volume 2, issue 1, pp. 113--121, issued December 1986; the day is the issue's nominal first day, used for this page's date; the paper prints "Received: September 30, 1985" and "Revised: March 10, 1986"). The site's curator, Thomas Bloom, credits this theorem in the problem's commentary with the answer yes for non-bipartite GG, but the site's label settles the problem by Morris and Saxton's disproof, so that commentary is not listed as reviewed evidence. The text cited is the scan in the Rényi Institute's Erdős archive, https://users.renyi.hu/~p_erdos/1986-17.pdf. Proof coverage: the statements of Theorems 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 and the authors' remark on the bipartite case; no proof is compiled in this corpus. This claim is partial, so the problem's standing derives from Morris and Saxton's full claim.