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 only if b <> 2a, and provide upper and lower bounds for it. We then show that for a large class of pairs (a,b), N(a,b;r) does not exist for r sufficiently large. We also give a result on sets of the form {x,ax+d,ax+2d,...,ax+(k-1)d}.
Let $1 \leq a \leq b$ be integers. A triple of the form $(x,ax+d,bx+2d)$, where $x,d$ are positive integers is called an {\em (a,b)-triple}. The {\em degree of regularity} of the family of all $(a,b)$-triples, denoted dor($a,b)$, is the maximum integer $r$ such that every $r$-coloring of $\mathbb{N}$ admits a monochromatic $(a,b)$-triple. We settle, in the affirmative, the conjecture that dor$(a,b) < \infty$ for all $(a,b) \neq (1,1)$. We also disprove the conjecture that dor($a,b) \in \{1,2,\infty\}$ for all $(a,b)$.
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.
This work contains certificates numbers Van der Waerden, was found using SAT Solver. These certificates establish the best currently known lower bounds of the numbers Van der Waerden W( 7, 3 ), W( 8, 3 ), W( 10, 3 ), W( 11, 3 ), W( 17, 3 ).
In this paper, anti-van der Waerden numbers on Cartesian products of graphs are investigated and a conjecture made by Schulte, et al (see arXiv:1802.01509) is answered. In particular, the anti-van der Waerden number of the Cartesian product of two graphs has an upper bound of four. This result is then used to determine the anti-van der Waerden number for any Cartesian product of two paths.
We discuss here analogs of van der Waerden and Tverberg permanent conjectures for haffnians on the convex set of matrices whose extreme points are symmetric permutation matrices with zero diagonal.
In this paper arithmetic progressions on the integers and the integers modulo n are extended to graphs. This allows for the definition of the anti-van der Waerden number of a graph. Much of the focus of this paper is on 3-term arithmetic progressions for which general bounds are obtained based on the radius and diameter of a graph. The general bounds are improved for trees and Cartesian products and exact values are determined for some classes of graphs. Larger k-term arithmetic progressions are considered and a connection between the Ramsey number of paths and the anti-van der Waerden number …
We prove a canonical polynomial Van der Waerden's Theorem. More precisely, we show the following. Let $\{p_1(x),\ldots,p_k(x)\}$ be a set of polynomials such that $p_i(x)\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ and $p_i(0)=0$, for every $i\in \{1,\ldots,k\}$. Then, in any colouring of $\mathbb{Z}$, there exist $a,d\in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $\{a+p_1(d),\ldots,a+p_{k}(d)\}$ forms either a monochromatic or a rainbow set.
For positive integers $r,k_0,k_1,...,k_{r-1},$ the van der Waerden number $w(k_0,k_1,...,k_{r-1})$ is the least positive integer $n$ such that whenever $\{1,2,...,n\}$ is partitioned into $r$ sets $S_{0},S_{1},...,S_{r-1}$, there is some $i$ so that $S_i$ contains a $k_i$-term arithmetic progression. We find several new exact values of $w(k_0,k_1,...,k_{r-1})$. In addition, for the situation in which only one value of $k_i$ differs from 2, we give a precise formula for the van der Waerden function (provided this one value of $k_i$ is not too small)
For a given length and a given degree and an arbitrary partition of the positive integers, there always is a cell containing a polynomial progression of that length and that degree; moreover, the coefficients of the generating polynomial can be chosen from a given semigroup and one can prescribe the occurring powers. A multidimensional version is included.
We present a self-contained proof of a strong version of van der Waerden's Theorem. By using translation invariant filters that are maximal with respect to inclusion, a simple inductive argument shows the existence of "piecewise syndetically"-many monochromatic arithmetic progressions of any length k in every finite coloring of the natural numbers. All the presented constructions are constructive in nature, in the sense that the involved maximal filters are defined by recurrence on suitable countable algebras of sets. No use of the axiom of choice or of Zorn's Lemma is needed.
In this paper we prove a new recurrence relation on the van der Waerden numbers, $w(r,k)$. In particular, if $p$ is a prime and $p\leq k$ then $w(r, k) > p \cdot \left(w\left(r - \left\lceil \frac{r}{p}\right\rceil, k\right) -1\right)$. This recurrence gives the lower bound $w(r, p+1) > p^{r-1}2^p$ when $r \leq p$, which generalizes Berlekamp's theorem on 2-colorings, and gives the best known bound for a large interval of $r$. The recurrence can also be used to construct explicit valid colorings, and it improves known lower bounds on small van der Waerden numbers.
We prove that the mixed discriminant of doubly stochastic $n$-tuples of semidefinite hermitian $n \times n$ matrices is bounded below by $\frac{n!}{n^{n}}$ and that this bound is uniquely attained at the $n$-tuple $(\frac{1}{n} I,...,\frac{1}{n} I)$. This result settles a conjecture posed by R. Bapat in 1989. We consider various generalizations and applications of this result.
Let $r$ and $k$ be positive integers with $r \mid k$. Denote by $w_{\mathrm{\mathfrak{z}}}(k;r)$ the minimum integer such that every coloring $χ:[1,w_{\mathrm{\mathfrak{z}}}(k;r)] \rightarrow \{0,1,\dots,r-1\}$ admits a $k$-term arithmetic progression $a,a+d,\dots,a+(k-1)d$ with $\sum_{j=0}^{k-1} χ(a+jd) \equiv 0 \,(\mathrm{mod }\,r)$. We investigate these numbers as well as a "mixed" monochromatic/zero-sum analogue. We also present an interesting reciprocity between the van der Waerden numbers and $w_{\mathrm{\mathfrak{z}}}(k;r)$.
We establish sharpness for the threshold of van der Waerden's theorem in random subsets of $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$. More precisely, for $k\geq 3$ and $Z\subseteq \mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$ we say $Z$ has the van der Waerden property if any two-colouring of $Z$ yields a monochromatic arithmetic progression of length $k$. Rödl and Ruciński (1995) determined the threshold for this property for any k and we show that this threshold is sharp. The proof is based on Friedgut's criteria (1999) for sharp thresholds, and on the recently developed container method for independent sets in hypergraphs by Bal…
A $k$-term arithmetic progression ($k$-AP) in a graph $G$ is a list of vertices such that each consecutive pair of vertices is the same distance apart. If $c$ is a coloring function of the vertices of $G$ and a $k$-AP in $G$ has each vertex colored distinctly, then that $k$-AP is a rainbow $k$-AP. The anti-van der Waerden number of a graph $G$ with respect to $k$ is the least positive integer $r$ such that every surjective coloring with domain $V(G)$ and codomain $\{1,2,\dots,r\} = [r]$ is guaranteed to have a rainbow $k$-AP. This paper focuses on $3$-APs and graph products with cycles. Specif…
In this paper we provide two results. The first one consists an infinitary version of the Furstenberg-Weiss Theorem. More precisely we show that every subset $A$ of a homogeneous tree $T$ such that $\frac{|A\cap T(n)|}{|T(n)|}\geqδ$, where T(n) denotes the $n$-th level of $T$, for all $n$ in a van der Waerden set, for some positive real $δ$, contains a strong subtree having a level sets which forms a van der Waerden set. The second result is the following. For every sequence $(m_q)_{q}$ of positive integers and for every real $0<δ\\leq1$, there exists a sequence $(n_q)_{q}$ of positive integer…
The \emph{anti-van der Waerden number}, denoted by $aw([n],k)$, is the smallest $r$ such that every exact $r$-coloring of $[n]$ contains a rainbow $k$-term arithmetic progression. Butler et. al. showed that $\lceil \log_3 n \rceil + 2 \le aw([n],3) \le \lceil \log_2 n \rceil + 1$, and conjectured that there exists a constant $C$ such that $aw([n],3) \le \lceil \log_3 n \rceil + C$. In this paper, we show this conjecture is true by determining $aw([n],3)$ for all $n$. We prove that for $7\cdot 3^{m-2}+1 \leq n \leq 21 \cdot 3^{m-2}$, \[ aw([n],3)=\left\{\begin{array}{ll} m+2, & \mbox{if $n=3^m$…
In this paper we prove the Random Van der Waerden Theorem: For $q_1 \geq q_2 \geq \dotsb \geq q_r \geq 3 \in \mathbb{N}$ there exist $c,C >0$ such that \[ \lim_{n \to \infty} \mathbb{P}([n]_p \rightarrow (q_1,\dotsc, q_r)) = \begin{cases} 1 & \text{if } p \geq C \cdot n^{-\frac{q_2}{q_1(q_2-1)}}, 0 & \text{if } p \leq c \cdot n^{-\frac{q_2}{q_1(q_2-1)}}, \end{cases}\] extending the results of Rödl and Ruciński for the symmetric case $q_i = q$. The proof for the 1-statement is based on the Hypergraph Container Method by Balogh, Morris and Samotij and Saxton and Thomason. The proof for the 0-sta…
For positive integers $s$ and $k_1, k_2, ..., k_s$, let $w(k_1,k_2,...,k_s)$ be the minimum integer $n$ such that any $s$-coloring $\{1,2,...,n\} \to \{1,2,...,s\}$ admits a $k_i$-term arithmetic progression of color $i$ for some $i$, $1 \leq i \leq s$. In the case when $k_1=k_2=...=k_s=k$ we simply write $w(k;s)$. That such a minimum integer exists follows from van der Waerden's theorem on arithmetic progressions. In the present paper we give a lower bound for $w(k,m)$ for each fixed $m$. We include a table with values of $w(k,3)$ which match this lower bound closely for $5 \leq k \leq 16$. W…
Ehrenborg, Govindaiah, Park, and Readdy recently introduced the van der Waerden complex, a pure simplicial complex whose facets correspond to arithmetic progressions. Using techniques from combinatorial commutative algebra, we classify when these pure simplicial complexes are vertex decomposable or not Cohen-Macaulay. As a corollary, we classify the van der Waerden complexes that are shellable.
We introduce the van der Waerden complex ${\rm vdW}(n,k)$ defined as the simplicial complex whose facets correspond to arithmetic progressions of length $k$ in the vertex set $\{1, 2, \ldots, n\}$. We show the van der Waerden complex ${\rm vdW}(n,k)$ is homotopy equivalent to a $CW$-complex whose cells asymptotically have dimension at most $\log k / \log \log k$. Furthermore, we give bounds on $n$ and $k$ which imply that the van der Waerden complex is contractible.
This paper provides new lower bounds for van der Waerden numbers using Rabung's method, which colors based on the discrete logarithm modulo some prime. Through a distributed computing project with 500 volunteers over one year, we checked all primes up to 950 million, compared to 27 million in previous work. We point to evidence that the van der Waerden number for $r$ colors and progression length $k$ is roughly $r^k$.
The van der Waerden number W(k,2) is the smallest integer n such that every 2-coloring of 1 to n has a monochromatic arithmetic progression of length k. The existence of such an n for any k is due to van der Waerden but known upper bounds on W(k,2) are enormous. Much effort was put into developing lower bounds on W(k,2). Most of these lower bound proofs employ the probabilistic method often in combination with the Lovász Local Lemma. While these proofs show the existence of a 2-coloring that has no monochromatic arithmetic progression of length k they provide no efficient algorithm to find suc…
We show an improved upper estimate for van der Waerden number $W(3,k):$ there is an absolute constant $c>0$ such that if $\{1,\dots,N\}=X\cup Y$ is a partition such that $X$ does not contain any arithmetic progression of length $3$ and $Y$ does not contain any arithmetic progression of length $k$ then $$N\le \exp(O(k^{1-c}))\,.$$
Pirillo and Varricchio, and independently, Halbeisen and Hungerbuhler considered the following problem, open since 1994: Does there exist an infinite word w over a finite subset of Z such that w contains no two consecutive blocks of the same length and sum? We consider some variations on this problem in the light of van der Waerden's theorem on arithmetic progressions.
Recently, Ben Green proved that the two-color van der Waerden number $w(3,k)$ is bounded from below by $k^{b_0(k)}$ where $b_0(k) = c_0\left(\frac{\log k }{\log \log k}\right)^{1/3}$. We prove a new lower bound of $k^{b(k)}$ with $b(k) = \frac{c\log k}{\log \log k}$. This is done by modifying Green's argument, replacing a complicated result about random quadratic forms with an elementary probabilistic result.
Three-color van der Waerden numbers grow super-exponentially
Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；ETH, Zr̈ich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）
通过构造一个前 $2^{k (\log^* k)/4}$ 个正整数的三着色不含单色 $k$ 项等差数列，证明三色 van der Waerden 数 $w(k;3)$ 的增长速度快于任何指数函数，并给出多色 van der Waerden 数的新下界，解决了 Erdős 和 Graham 关于典范 van der Waerden 数的问题。
We explore recurrence properties arising from dynamical approach to combinatorial problems like the van der Waerden Theorem. We describe relations between these properties, study their consequences for dynamics, and demonstrate connections to combinatorial problems. In particular, we present a measure-theoretical analog of a result of Glasner on multi-transitivity in topological weakly mixing minimal maps. We also obtain a dynamical proof of the existence of a C-set with zero Banach density.
We show that there is a red-blue colouring of $[N]$ with no blue 3-term arithmetic progression and no red arithmetic progression of length $e^{C(\log N)^{3/4}(\log \log N)^{1/4}}$. Consequently, the two-colour van der Waerden number $w(3,k)$ is bounded below by $k^{b(k)}$, where $b(k) = c \big( \frac{\log k}{\log\log k} \big)^{1/3}$. Previously it had been speculated, supported by data, that $w(3,k) = O(k^2)$.
Let $AP_k=\{a,a+d,\ldots,a+(k-1)d\}$ be an arithmetic progression. For $ε>0$ we call a set $AP_k(ε)=\{x_0,\ldots,x_{k-1}\}$ an $ε$-approximate arithmetic progression if for some $a$ and $d$, $|x_i-(a+id)|<εd$ holds for all $i\in\{0,1\ldots,k-1\}$. Complementing earlier results of Dumitrescu, in this paper we study numerical aspects of Van der Waerden, Szemeredi and Furstenberg-Katznelson like results in which arithmetic progressions and their higher dimensional extensions are replaced by their $ε$-approximation.
The famous van der Waerden theorem states that if partition N into finitely many cells then one of them will contain arbitrary length arithmetic progressions. It has a polynomial version also. In this article we will prove the near 0 version of the polynomial van der Waerden theorem which was unsolved, using combinatorics.
We present results and conjectures on the van der Waerden numbers w(2;3,t) and on the new palindromic van der Waerden numbers pdw(2;3,t). We have computed the new number w(2;3,19) = 349, and we provide lower bounds for 20 <= t <= 39, where for t <= 30 we conjecture these lower bounds to be exact. The lower bounds for 24 <= t <= 30 refute the conjecture that w(2;3,t) <= t^2, and we present an improved conjecture. We also investigate regularities in the good partitions (certificates) to better understand the lower bounds. Motivated by such reglarities, we introduce *palindromic van der Waerden n…
For positive integers $n$ and $k$, the \emph{anti-van der Waerden number} of $\mathbb{Z}_n$, denoted by $aw(\mathbb{Z}_n,k)$, is the minimum number of colors needed to color the elements of the cyclic group of order $n$ and guarantee there is a rainbow arithmetic progression of length $k$. Butler et al. showed a reduction formula for $aw(\mathbb{Z}_{n},3) = 3$ in terms of the prime divisors of $n$. In this paper, we analagously define the anti-van der Waerden number of a finite abelian group $G$ and show $aw(G,3)$ is determined by the order of $G$ and the number of groups with even order in a …
Superfilters are generalized ultrafilters, which capture the underlying concept in Ramsey theoretic theorems such as van der Waerden's Theorem. We establish several properties of superfilters, which generalize both Ramsey's Theorem and its variant for ultrafilters on the natural numbers. We use them to confirm a conjecture of Kočinac and Di Maio, which is a generalization of a Ramsey theoretic result of Scheepers, concerning selections from open covers. Following Bergelson and Hindman's 1989 Theorem, we present a new simultaneous generalization of the theorems of Ramsey, van der Waerden, Schur…
Consider a homogeneous polynomial $p(z_1,...,z_n)$ of degree $n$ in $n$ complex variables . Assume that this polynomial satisfies the property : \\ $|p(z_1,...,z_n)| \geq \prod_{1 \leq i \leq n} Re(z_i)$ on the domain $\{(z_1,...,z_n) : Re(z_i) \geq 0, 1 \leq i \leq n \}$ . \\ We prove that $|\frac{\partial^n}{\partial z_1...\partial z_n} p | \geq \frac{n!}{n^n}$ . Our proof is relatively short and self-contained (i.e. we only use basic properties of hyperbolic polynomials). As the van der Waerden conjecture for permanents, proved by D.I. Falikman and G.P. Egorychev, as well Bapat's conjecture…
Let $p$ be a homogeneous polynomial of degree $n$ in $n$ variables, $p(z_1,...,z_n) = p(Z)$, $Z \in C^{n}$. We call such a polynomial $p$ {\bf H-Stable} if $p(z_1,...,z_n) \neq 0$ provided the real parts $Re(z_i) > 0, 1 \leq i \leq n$. This notion from {\it Control Theory} is closely related to the notion of {\it Hyperbolicity} used intensively in the {\it PDE} theory. The main theorem in this paper states that if $p(x_1,...,x_n)$ is a homogeneous {\bf H-Stable} polynomial of degree $n$ with nonnegative coefficients; $deg_{p}(i)$ is the maximum degree of the variable $x_i$, $C_i = \min(deg_{p}…
We develop a Van der Waerden type theorem in an axiomatic setting of graded lattices and show that this axiomatic formulation can be applied to various lattices, for instance the set partition and the Boolean lattices. We derive the Hales-Jewett theorem as a corollary.
