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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. Some graph with no K4K_4 on at most 3⋅1093\cdot10^9 vertices has a monochromatic triangle in every 22-coloring of its edges. This answers Problem 582 yes by a probabilistic argument that does not use Folkman's construction: a random graph G(n,p)G(n,p) loses one edge from each of its copies of K4K_4, and the analysis shows that the resulting K4K_4-free graph arrows (3,3)(3,3) with positive probability, for n=3⋅109n=3\cdot10^9 and p=6n−1/2p=6n^{-1/2} as Radziszowski and Xu describe the proof (their survey). Since 3⋅109<10103\cdot10^9<10^{10}, the result also meets Erdős's challenge [Er75d] to find such a graph on fewer than 101010^{10} vertices, as the site's commentary records. The paper claimed 3⋅1083\cdot10^8 points, as its title says. The erratum in J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 50 (1989), no. 2, 323 corrects the count to 3⋅1093\cdot10^9; Lu cites it as Spencer's, and Lange, Radziszowski and Xu credit it to M. Hovey. That corrected bound is the one the site, Lu, and Lange, Radziszowski and Xu record. The paper is not held; the statement is taken from these accounts of it.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.

Acceptance. Refereed: J. Spencer, Three hundred million points suffice, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 49 (1988), no. 2, 210--217 (November 1988; the day is a placeholder), with the erratum in 50 (1989), no. 2, 323. Lu (SIAM J. Discrete Math. 21 (2008), p. 1053) records that Spencer claimed Erdős's reward for the 101010^{10} challenge. The site's label rests on Folkman's existence proof, so the site's commentary crediting Spencer is not listed as evidence.