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

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Claim. N. Hindman, Partitions and sums and products of integers, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 247 (1979), 227--245. Theorem 4.4 (p. 244): every partition of {2,…,990}\{2,\ldots,990\} into two cells has distinct x,yx,y with {x,y,x+y,xy}\{x,y,x+y,xy\} in one cell, and 990990 cannot be lowered. Theorem 4.3 (p. 243) is credited to Graham's unpublished computation, which Hindman verified independently; it gives the same for {1,…,252}\{1,\ldots,252\}, with 252252 sharp. Either theorem gives every 22-coloring of N\mathbb N a set A={x,y}A=\{x,y\} whose sums and products of distinct elements share one color: xx, yy, x+yx+y and xyxy, with the singletons included as the problem page reads them. Both theorems rest on computer searches: Theorem 4.3 lists its 27 cases and checks one in print, and Theorem 4.4 prints only the extremal partition of {2,…,989}\{2,\ldots,989\}. Erdős reported both computations in 1977 (p. 58). Bowen's Theorem 1.1 at n=2n=2 (Adv. Math. 462 (2025), 110095; arXiv:2205.12921, 25 May 2022) reproves the case without a computer and gives arbitrarily large such x,yx,y. It settles the same instance and has no page of its own.

Covers. The case of two colors and ∣A∣=2|A|=2. Not covered: three or more colors, and ∣A∣≥3|A|\ge3.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki; the result rests on the cited paper.

Acceptance. Refereed: Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 247 (1979), 227--245. The computer searches were not rerun here. The site labels the problem OPEN and cites neither this paper nor Bowen's, so no curator credit is listed.