We discuss a problem posed by Ronald Graham about the minimum number, over all 2-colorings of $[1,n]$, of monochromatic $\{x,y,x+ay\}$ triples for $a \geq 1$. We give a new proof of the original case of $a=1$. We show that the minimum number of such triples is at most $\frac{n^2}{2a(a^2+2a+3)} + O(n)$ when $a \geq 2$. We also find a new upper bound for the minimum number, over all $r$-colorings of $[1,n]$, of monochromatic Schur triples, for $r \geq 3$.
The solution to the problem of finding the minimum number of monochromatic triples $(x,y,x+ay)$ with $a\geq 2$ being a fixed positive integer over any 2-coloring of $[1,n]$ was conjectured by Butler, Costello, and Graham (2010) and Thanathipanonda (2009). We solve this problem using a method based on Datskovsky's proof (2003) on the minimum number of monochromatic Schur triples $(x,y,x+y)$. We do this by exploiting the combinatorial nature of the original proof and adapting it to the general problem.
Given a dense subset $A$ of the first $n$ positive integers, we provide a short proof showing that for $p=ω(n^{-2/3})$ the so-called {\sl randomly perturbed} set $A \cup [n]_p$ a.a.s. has the property that any $2$-colouring of it has a monochromatic Schur triple, i.e.\ a triple of the form $(a,b,a+b)$. This result is optimal since there are dense sets $A$, for which $A\cup [n]_p$ does not possess this property for $p=o(n^{-2/3})$.
We prove that the minimum number (asymptotically) of monochromatic Schur triples that a 2-coloring of [1,n] can have is (n^2)/22 + O(n). This was solved independently by Tomasz Schoen.
We derive exact and sharp lower bounds for the number of monochromatic generalized Schur triples $(x,y,x+ay)$ whose entries are from the set $\{1,\dots,n\}$, subject to a coloring with two different colors. Previously, only asymptotic formulas for such bounds were known, and only for $a\in\mathbb{N}$. Using symbolic computation techniques, these results are extended here to arbitrary $a\in\mathbb{R}$. Furthermore, we give exact formulas for the minimum number of monochromatic Schur triples for $a=1,2,3,4$, and briefly discuss the case $0<a<1$.
Following problems posed by Gyárfás, we show that for every $r$-edge-colouring of $K_n$ there is a monochromatic triple star of order at least $n/(r-1)$, improving a previous result by Ruszinkó. An edge colouring of a graph is called a local $r$-colouring if every vertex spans edges of at most $r$ distinct colours. We prove the existence of a monochromatic triple star with at least $rn/(r^2-r+1)$ vertices in every local $r$-colouring of $K_n$.
A standard proof of Schur's Theorem yields that any $r$-coloring of $\{1,2,\dots,R_r-1\}$ yields a monochromatic solution to $x+y=z$, where $R_r$ is the classical $r$-color Ramsey number, the minimum $N$ such that any $r$-coloring of a complete graph on $N$ vertices yields a monochromatic triangle. We explore generalizations and modifications of this result in higher dimensional integer lattices, showing in particular that if $k\geq d+1$, then any $r$-coloring of $\{1,2,\dots,R_r(k)^d-1\}^d$ yields a monochromatic solution to $x_1+\cdots+x_{k-1}=x_k$ with $\{x_1,\dots,x_d\}$ linearly independe…
It is known that in any $r$-coloring of the edges of a complete $r$-uniform hypergraph, there exists a spanning monochromatic component. Given a Steiner triple system on $n$ vertices, what is the largest monochromatic component one can guarantee in an arbitrary 3-coloring of the edges? Gyárfás proved that $(2n+3)/3$ is an absolute lower bound and that this lower bound is best possible for infinitely many $n$. On the other hand, we prove that for almost all Steiner triple systems the lower bound is actually $(1-o(1))n$. We obtain this result as a consequence of a more general theorem which show…
We show that for all $\ell$ and $ε>0$ there is a constant $c=c(\ell,ε)>0$ such that every $\ell$-coloring of the triples of an $N$-element set contains a subset $S$ of size $c\sqrt{\log N}$ such that at least $1-ε$ fraction of the triples of $S$ have the same color. This result is tight up to the constant $c$ and answers an open question of Erdős and Hajnal from 1989 on discrepancy in hypergraphs. For $\ell \geq 4$ colors, it is known that there is an $\ell$-coloring of the triples of an $N$-element set whose largest monochromatic subset has cardinality only $Θ(\log \log N)$. Thus, our result …
We show that if $N \geq \exp(\exp(\exp (k^{O(1)})))$, then any $k$-colouring of the primes that are less than $N$ contains a monochromatic solution to $p_1 - p_2 = p_3 -1$.
A set of elements of a finite abelian group is called sum-free if it contains no Schur triple, i.e., no triple of elements $x,y,z$ with $x+y=z$. The study of how large the largest sum-free subset of a given abelian group is had started more than thirty years before it was finally resolved by Green and Ruzsa a decade ago. We address the following more general question. Suppose that a set $A$ of elements of an abelian group $G$ has cardinality $a$. How many Schur triples must $A$ contain? Moreover, which sets of $a$ elements of $G$ have the smallest number of Schur triples? In this paper, we ans…
In 1916, Schur introduced the Ramsey number $r(3;m)$, which is the minimum integer $n$ such that for any $m$-coloring of the edges of the complete graph $K_n$, there is a monochromatic copy of $K_3$. He showed that $r(3;m) \leq O(m!)$, and a simple construction demonstrates that $r(3;m) \geq 2^{Ω(m)}$. An old conjecture of Erd\H os states that $r(3;m) = 2^{Θ(m)}$. In this note, we prove the conjecture for $m$-colorings with bounded VC-dimension, that is, for $m$-colorings with the property that the set system $\mathcal{F}$ induced by the neighborhoods of the vertices with respect to each color…
A Pythagorean triple is a triple of positive integers a, b, c $\in$ N${}^{+}$ satisfying a${}^2$ + b${}^2$ = c${}^2$. Is it true that, for any finite coloring of N${}^{+}$ , at least one Pythagorean triple must be monochromatic? In other words, is the Dio-phantine equation X${}^2$+ Y${}^2$ = Z${}^2$ regular? This problem, recently solved for 2-colorings by massive SAT computations [Heule et al., 2016], remains widely open for k-colorings with k $\ge$ 3. In this paper, we introduce morphic colorings of N + , which are special colorings in finite groups with partly multiplicative properties. We …
Consider the following problem. In a school with three classes containing $n$ students each, given that their genders are unknown, find the minimum possible number of triples of same-gender students not all of which are from the same class. Muaengwaeng asked this question and conjectured that the minimum scenario occurs when the classes are all boy, all girl and half-and-half. In this paper, we solve many generalizations of the problem including when the school has more than three classes, when triples are replaced by groups of larger sizes, when the classes are of different sizes, and when ge…
We address the question of the "partition regularity" of the Pythagorean equation a^2+b^2=c^2; in particular, can the natural numbers be assigned a 2-coloring, so that no Pythagorean triple (i.e., a solution to the equation) is monochromatic? We prove that the hypergraph of Pythagorean triples can contain no Steiner triple systems, a natural obstruction to 2-colorability. Then, after transforming the question into one about 3-CNF satisfiability and applying some reductions, a SAT solver is used to find a 2-coloring for {1,...,7664}. Work continues as we seek to improve the reductions and exten…
We resolve the Ramsey problem for $\{x,y,z:x+y=p(z)\}$ for all polynomials $p$ over $\mathbb{Z}$. In particular, we characterise all polynomials that are $2$-Ramsey, that is, those $p(z)$ such that any $2$-colouring of $\mathbb{N}$ contains infinitely many monochromatic solutions for $x+y=p(z)$. For polynomials that are not $2$-Ramsey, we characterise all $2$-colourings of $\mathbb{N}$ that are not $2$-Ramsey, revealing that certain divisibility barrier is the only obstruction to $2$-Ramseyness for $x+y=p(z)$.
Let V(n) be the minimum number of monochromatic 3-term arithmetic progressions in any 2-coloring of {1,2,...,n}. We show that (1675/32768) n^2 (1+o(1)) <= V(n) <= (117/2192) n^2(1+o(1)). As a consequence, we find that V(n) is strictly greater than the corresponding number for Schur triples (which is (1/22) n^2 (1+o(1)). Additionally, we disprove the conjecture that V(n) = (1/16) n^2(1+o(1)), as well as a more general conjecture.
Let $S$ be an orthogonal array $OA(d,k)$ and let $c$ be an $r$--coloring of its ground set $X$. We give a combinatorial identity which relates the number of vectors in $S$ with given color patterns under $c$ with the cardinalities of the color classes. Several applications of the identity are considered. Among them, we show that every equitable $r$--coloring of the integer interval $[1,n]$ has at least $1/2(n/r)^2+O(n)$ monochromatic Schur triples. We also show that in an orthogonal array $OA(d,d-1)$, the number of monochromatic vectors of each color depends only on the number of vectors which…
Van der Waerden's classical theorem on arithmetic progressions states that for any positive integers k and r, there exists a least positive integer, w(k,r), such that any r-coloring of {1,2,...,w(k,r)} must contain a monochromatic k-term arithmetic progression {x,x+d,x+2d,...,x+(k-1)d}. We investigate the following generalization of w(3,r). For fixed positive integers a and b with a <= b, define N(a,b;r) to be the least positive integer, if it exists, such that any r-coloring of {1,2,...,N(a,b;r)} must contain a monochromatic set of the form {x,ax+d,bx+2d}. We show that N(a,b;2) exists if and …
We prove that for any partition of the plane into a closed set $C$ and an open set $O$ and for any configuration $T$ of three points, there is a translated and rotated copy of $T$ contained in $C$ or in $O$. Apart from that, we consider partitions of the plane into two sets whose common boundary is a union of piecewise linear curves. We show that for any such partition and any configuration $T$ which is a vertex set of a non-equilateral triangle there is a copy of $T$ contained in the interior of one of the two partition classes. Furthermore, we give the characterization of these "polygonal" p…
A graph $H$ is \emph{common} if the number of monochromatic copies of $H$ in a 2-edge-colouring of the complete graph $K_n$ is asymptotically minimised by the random colouring, or equivalently, $t_H(W)+t_H(1-W)\geq 2^{1-e(H)}$ holds for every graphon $W:[0,1]^2\rightarrow [0,1]$, where $t_H(.)$ denotes the homomorphism density of the graph $H$. Paths and cycles being common is one of the earliest cornerstones in extremal graph theory, due to Mulholland and Smith (1959), Goodman (1959), and Sidorenko (1989). We prove a graph homomorphism inequality that extends the commonality of paths and cycl…
Zuse Institute Berlin（柏林祖斯研究所）；Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Mathematics（柏林自由大学数学研究所）；Technische Universität Berlin, Institute of Mathematics（柏林工业大学数学研究所）
Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a 3-uniform hypergraph. The multicolor Ramsey number $ r_k(\mathcal{H})$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that every coloring of $ \binom{[n]}{3}$ with $k$ colors has a monochromatic copy of $\mathcal{H}$. Let $ \mathcal{L}$ be the loose 3-uniform path with 3 edges and $ \mathcal{M}$ denote the messy 3-uniform path with 3 edges; that is, let $\mathcal{L} = \{abc, cde, efg\}$ and $\mathcal{M} = \{ abc, bcd, def\}$. In this note we prove $ r_k(\mathcal{L}) < 1.54k$ and $ r_k(\mathcal{M}) < 1.6k$ for $k$ sufficiently large.
We show that for every finite colouring of the natural numbers there exists $a,b >1$ such that the triple $\{a,b,a^b\}$ is monochromatic. We go on to show the partition regularity of a much richer class of patterns involving exponentiation. For example, as a corollary to our main theorem, we show that for every $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and for every finite colouring of the natural numbers, we may find a monochromatic set including the integers $x_1,\ldots,x_n >1$; all products of distinct $x_i$; and all "exponential compositions" of distinct $x_i$ which respect the order $x_1,\ldots,x_n$. In particu…
Ramsey Theory deals with avoiding certain patterns. When constructing an instance that avoids one pattern, it is observed that other patterns emerge. For example, repetition emerges when avoiding arithmetic progression (Van der Waerden numbers), while reflection emerges when avoiding monochromatic solutions of $a+b=c$ (Schur numbers). We exploit observed patterns when coloring a grid while avoiding monochromatic rectangles. Like many problems in Ramsey Theory, this problem has a rapidly growing search space that makes computer search difficult. Steinbach et al. obtained a solution of an 18 by …
An edge-coloring of the complete graph $K_n$ we call $F$-caring if it leaves no $F$-subgraph of $K_n$ monochromatic and at the same time every subset of $|V(F)|$ vertices contains in it at least one completely multicolored version of $F$. For the first two meaningful cases, when $F=K_{1,3}$ and $F=P_4$ we determine for infinitely many $n$ the minimum number of colors needed for an $F$-caring edge-coloring of $K_n$. An explicit family of $2\lceil\log_2 n\rceil$ $3$-edge-colorings of $K_n$ so that every quadruple of its vertices contains a totally multicolored $P_4$ in at least one of them is al…
One formulation of the Erdos-Szekeres monotone subsequence theorem states that for any red/blue coloring of the edge set of the complete graph on $\{1, 2, \ldots, N\}$, there exists a monochromatic red $s$-clique or a monochromatic blue increasing path $P_n$ with $n$ vertices, provided $N >(s-1)(n-1)$. %We had previously shown that a suitable generalization of this problem to quadruple systems is essentially equivalent to classical diagonal hypergraph Ramsey numbers. Here, we prove a similar statement as above in the off-diagonal case for triple systems, with the quasipolynomial bound $N>2^{c(…
HUN-REN Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics（匈牙利科学院阿尔弗雷德·雷尼数学研究所）；Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, and School of Mathematics and Statistics, Qinghai Normal University（青海师范大学高原科学与可持续发展研究院、数学与统计学院）
Let a and b be positive integers with a \leq b. An (a,b)-triple is a set {x,ax+d,bx+ 2d}, where x,d \geq 1. Define T(a,b;r) to be the least positive integer n such that any r-coloring of {1,2...,n} contains a monochromatic (a,b)-triple. Earlier results gave an upper bound on T(a,b;2) that is a fourth degree polynomial in b and a, and a quadratic lower bound. A new upper bound for T(a,b;2) is given that is a quadratic. Additionally, lower bounds are given for the case in which a = b, updated tables are provided, and open questions are presented.
Given a graph sequence $\{G_n\}_{n \geq 1}$ denote by $T_3(G_n)$ the number of monochromatic triangles in a uniformly random coloring of the vertices of $G_n$ with $c \geq 2$ colors. This arises as a generalization of the birthday paradox, where $G_n$ corresponds to a friendship network and $T_3(G_n)$ counts the number of triples of friends with matching birthdays. In this paper we prove a central limit theorem (CLT) for $T_3(G_n)$ with explicit error rates. The proof involves constructing a martingale difference sequence by carefully ordering the vertices of $G_n$, based on a certain combinat…
A system of linear equations $L$ over $\mathbb{F}_q$ is common if the number of monochromatic solutions to $L$ in any two-colouring of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ is asymptotically at least the expected number of monochromatic solutions in a random two-colouring of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$. Motivated by existing results for specific systems (such as Schur triples and arithmetic progressions), as well as extensive research on common and Sidorenko graphs, the systematic study of common systems of linear equations was recently initiated by Saad and Wolf. Building upon earlier work of Cameron, Cilleruelo and Serra, …
Given an $r$-uniform hypergraph $H$, the multicolor Ramsey number $r_k(H)$ is the minimum $n$ such that every $k$-coloring of the edges of the complete $r$-uniform hypergraph $K_n^r$ yields a monochromatic copy of $H$. We investigate $r_k(H)$ when $k$ grows and $H$ is fixed. For nontrivial 3-uniform hypergraphs $H$, the function $r_k(H)$ ranges from $\sqrt{6k}(1+o(1))$ to double exponential in $k$. We observe that $r_k(H)$ is polynomial in $k$ when $H$ is $r$-partite and at least single-exponential in $k$ otherwise. Erdős, Hajnal and Rado gave bounds for large cliques $K_s^r$ with $s\ge s_0(r)…
Let $k$ and $p$ be positive integers and let $Q$ be a finite point set in general position in the plane. We say that $Q$ is $(k,p)$-Ramsey if there is a finite point set $P$ such that for every $k$-coloring $c$ of $\binom{P}{p}$ there is a subset $Q'$ of $P$ such that $Q'$ and $Q$ have the same order type and $\binom{Q'}{p}$ is monochromatic in $c$. Nešetřil and Valtr proved that for every $k \in \mathbb{N}$, all point sets are $(k,1)$-Ramsey. They also proved that for every $k \ge 2$ and $p \ge 2$, there are point sets that are not $(k,p)$-Ramsey. As our main result, we introduce a new family…
An $r$-coloring of a subset $A$ of a finite abelian group $G$ is called sum-free if it does not induce a monochromatic Schur triple, i.e., a triple of elements $a,b,c\in A$ with $a+b=c$. We investigate $κ_{r,G}$, the maximum number of sum-free $r$-colorings admitted by subsets of $G$, and our results show a close relationship between $κ_{r,G}$ and largest sum-free sets of $G$. Given a sufficiently large abelian group $G$ of type $I$, i.e., $|G|$ has a prime divisor $q$ with $q\equiv 2\pmod 3$. For $r=2,3$ we show that a subset $A\subset G$ achieves $κ_{r,G}$ if and only if $A$ is a largest sum…
We study Ramsey-type problems in Gallai-colorings. Given a graph $G$ and an integer $k\ge1$, the Gallai-Ramsey number $gr_k(K_3,G)$ is the least positive integer $n$ such that every $k$-coloring of the edges of the complete graph on $n$ vertices contains either a rainbow triangle or a monochromatic copy of $G$. It turns out that $gr_k(K_3, G)$ behaves more nicely than the classical Ramsey number $r_k(G)$. However, finding exact values of $gr_k (K_3, G)$ is far from trivial. In this paper, we prove that $gr_k(K_3, C_9)= 4\cdot 2^k+1$ for all $k\ge1$. This new result provides partial evidence fo…
A Gallai coloring is a coloring of the edges of a complete graph without rainbow triangles, and a Gallai $k$-coloring is a Gallai coloring that uses $k$ colors. We study Ramsey-type problems in Gallai colorings. Given an integer $k\ge1$ and a graph $H$, the Gallai-Ramsey number $GR_k(H)$ is the least positive integer $n$ such that every Gallai $k$-coloring of the complete graph on $n$ vertices contains a monochromatic copy of $H$. It turns out that $GR_k(H)$ is more well-behaved than the classical Ramsey number $R_k(H)$. However, finding exact values of $GR_k (H)$ is far from trivial. In this …
We consider $m$-colorings of the edges of a complete graph, where each color class is defined semi-algebraically with bounded complexity. The case $m = 2$ was first studied by Alon et al., who applied this framework to obtain surprisingly strong Ramsey-type results for intersection graphs of geometric objects and for other graphs arising in computational geometry. Considering larger values of $m$ is relevant, e.g., to problems concerning the number of distinct distances determined by a point set. For $p\ge 3$ and $m\ge 2$, the classical Ramsey number $R(p;m)$ is the smallest positive integer $…
The Ramsey number r_k(s,n) is the minimum N such that every red-blue coloring of the k-tuples of an N-element set contains either a red set of size s or a blue set of size n, where a set is called red (blue) if all k-tuples from this set are red (blue). In this paper we obtain new estimates for several basic hypergraph Ramsey problems. We give a new upper bound for r_k(s,n) for k \geq 3 and s fixed. In particular, we show that r_3(s,n) \leq 2^{n^{s-2}\log n}, which improves by a factor of n^{s-2}/ polylog n the exponent of the previous upper bound of Erdos and Rado from 1952. We also obtain a …
