Mathematics Problem Archive
Strong colouring of matroid-graph pairs
v1.3 research notesLet G=(V,E) be a graph with maximum degree $\Delta \geq 2$, and let M=(V,r) be a matroid that has $2 \Delta$ disjoint bases. Is it true that M has $2 ...
Strongly maximal H-free spanning subgraph
v1.3 research notesLet the graphs $G=(V,E)$ and $H$ be fixed. An edge set $F\subseteq E$ is called $H$-free if $(V,F)$ does not contain $H$ as a subgraph. We say that $F...
Strongly maximal matchings
v1.3 research notesIs it true that if all the hyperedges of a hypergraph $H$ have size at most $k$ for some $k\in \mathbb{N}$, then $H$ admits a strongly maximal matchin...
Strongly minimal edge cover
v1.3 research notesIs it true that if the hypergraph $H$ has no isolated vertices and all of its hyperedges are finite, then $H$ admits a strongly minimal edge cover?...
Upper bound on common independent set cover
v1.3 research notesFor a loopless matroid $M=(S,r)$, let $\Delta(M)=\max_{X\subseteq S} |X|/r(X)$. Let $M_1=(S,r_1)$ and $M_2=(S,r_2)$ be two arbitrary loopless matroids...
Upper bound on the divisorial gonality of a graph
v1.3 research notes$\rm{gon}(G) \leq \frac{|E(G)|-|V(G)|}{2} + 2$, where $\rm{gon}(G)$ the denotes the divisorial gonality of graph $G$....
Weighted bipartite edge colouring
v1.3 research notesLet G=(S,T;E) be a bipartite graph, with weights $w:E \to [0,1]$. A proper weighted edge colouring is a colouring of the edges such that at each verte...
Well-balanced orientations of hypergraphs
v1.3 research notesWhen can we characterize hypergraphs that have an orientation satisfying a prescribed symmetric local edge-connectivity requirement? Special case: can...
How many colors is it necessary to use so that, if you paint every single point of the two-dimensional plane some color
v1.3 research notesErdős: How many colors is it necessary to use so that, if you paint every single point of the two-dimensional plane some color, no two points which ar...
A set of points S is Euclidean Ramsey if, for every k, there exists an N so that every k-coloring of Euclidean N-space c
v1.3 research notesGraham: A set of points S is Euclidean Ramsey if, for every k, there exists an N so that every k-coloring of Euclidean N-space contains a monochromati...
Suppose a geometric graph has no pairwise k-crossing lines
v1.3 research notesPach : Suppose a geometric graph has no pairwise k-crossing lines. That is, no k edges all cross each other. Must the graph have O_(k)(n) edges?...
Suppose we begin with a set of points S in the plane
v1.3 research notes: Suppose we begin with a set of points S in the plane. Let T(S) be the set of points one gets by taking all lines through pairs of points in S, and t...
Suppose H is a linear 3-uniform hypergraph, i
v1.3 research notesKalai : Suppose H is a linear 3-uniform hypergraph, i.e., a subset of the set of all triples of n points with the property that no two edges intersect...
Suppose a family V of n points are chosen in R^(3) and L is a collection of lines so that every triangle spanned by thre
v1.3 research notesSolymosi : Suppose a family V of n points are chosen in R^(3) and L is a collection of lines so that every triangle spanned by three points of V is pi...
Does every thrackle have average degree at most 2
v1.3 research notesConway : Does every thrackle have average degree at most 2? A thrackle is a drawing of a graph in the plane so that every two edges share exactly one ...
What is the minimum number of n-simplexes needed to triangulate the n-cube
v1.3 research notesWhat is the minimum number of n-simplexes needed to triangulate the n-cube? See this....
How many congruent regular tetrahedra can touch at a point
v1.3 research notesHow many congruent regular tetrahedra can touch at a point? Easy to show it's at least 20, and at most 22. Apparently, this has been open a long time....
Is it true that every graph whose vertices have odd degree greater than one contains a cycle of length 2^(n) for some n
v1.3 research notesErdős-Gyárfás: Is it true that every graph whose vertices have odd degree greater than one contains a cycle of length 2^(n) for some n? This one has k...
Show that the discrepancy of any hypergraph H is at most c|E(H)|^(1/2)
v1.3 research notesBeck: Show that the discrepancy of any hypergraph H is at most c|E(H)|^(1/2)...
Does lim R(k,k)^(1/k) exist
v1.3 research notesErdős: Does lim R(k,k)^(1/k) exist? What is it? (If it exists, it's between sqrt(2) and 4.) See "Small Ramsey Numbers" by Stanislaw Radziszowski....
Suppose G has n vertices and no induced copy of H
v1.3 research notesErdős, Hajnal: Suppose G has n vertices and no induced copy of H. Is there an ľ > 0, depending only on H, so that the homogeneous number of G (i.e., t...
Define the "crossing number" of a graph to be the minimum number of (topological) crossings of edges in any straight-lin
v1.3 research notesPach, Tóth: Define the "crossing number" of a graph to be the minimum number of (topological) crossings of edges in any straight-line embedding in the...
Define the discrepancy of a graph to be the largest value of D(S,T) = | |S||T|/2 - e(S,T) |, over all disjoint vertex se
v1.3 research notesChung, Graham: Define the discrepancy of a graph to be the largest value of D(S,T) = | |S||T|/2 - e(S,T) |, over all disjoint vertex sets S and T. Sup...
Show that every (1/2+ľ)|E(ő_(n))| edges of the n-cube ő_(n) contains a C_(4) when n is sufficiently large
v1.3 research notesErdős: Show that every (1/2+ľ)|E(ő_(n))| edges of the n-cube ő_(n) contains a C_(4) when n is sufficiently large. (The best known value of ľ is around...
The "cycle double cover conjecture" states that every bridgeless graph contains a set of cycles which cover each edge of
v1.3 research notesSeymour/Szekeres: The "cycle double cover conjecture" states that every bridgeless graph contains a set of cycles which cover each edge of the graph e...
"Seymour's Second Neighborhood Conjecture" Any oriented graph has a vertex whose outdegree is at most its second outdegr
v1.3 research notesSeymour: "Seymour's Second Neighborhood Conjecture" Any oriented graph has a vertex whose outdegree is at most its second outdegree (vertices at direc...
Suppose that G is a tree
v1.3 research notesGraham: Suppose that G is a tree. Denote by L(G) the line graph of G. Is the sequence |G|, |L(G)|, |L(L(G))|, |L(L(L(G)))| ... unique to G? That is, c...
What is the list-chromatic number of Sudoku
v1.3 research notes: What is the list-chromatic number of Sudoku? That is, suppose one places k symbols (aka colors) in each cell of a Sudoku board -- not necessarily al...
A graph G is said to be uniquely H-saturated if it contains no H, but adding any edge to G creates exactly one copy of H
v1.3 research notes: A graph G is said to be uniquely H-saturated if it contains no H, but adding any edge to G creates exactly one copy of H (up to isomorphism). Clearl...
A graph G is said to be uniquely colorable it has only one optimal coloring up to permutation of the colors
v1.3 research notes: A graph G is said to be uniquely colorable it has only one optimal coloring up to permutation of the colors. (That is, there is only one partition i...
What is the meaning of the multiplicity of zero as a root of a hypergraph's (or graph's) characteristic polynomial
v1.3 research notesNikiforov: What is the meaning of the multiplicity of zero as a root of a hypergraph's (or graph's) characteristic polynomial?...
What are the (homogeneous adjacency) spectra of the ultracube and the complete hypergraph
v1.3 research notes/Dutle : What are the (homogeneous adjacency) spectra of the ultracube and the complete hypergraph? (Ultracube = cartesian power of a hyperedge.)...
Is it true that the sum of the k largest Laplacian eigenvalues of a graph with m edges is at most k(k+1)/2+m
v1.3 research notesBrouwer : Is it true that the sum of the k largest Laplacian eigenvalues of a graph with m edges is at most k(k+1)/2+m?...
Given a permutation σ, what is the maximum number of copies of σ that a permutation on n symbols may contain
v1.3 research notesGiven a permutation σ, what is the maximum number of copies of σ that a permutation on n symbols may contain?...
Given two permutations σ and τ, what is the expected number of copies of σ in a permutation chosen uniformly at random f
v1.3 research notes: Given two permutations σ and τ, what is the expected number of copies of σ in a permutation chosen uniformly at random from those permutations on n ...
Is it possible for a permutation on n symbols to contain exactly n
v1.3 research notes: Is it possible for a permutation on n symbols to contain exactly n!/(m!^(2)(n - m)!) copies of each permutation on m symbols? (Yes for m=1,2,3. Unkn...
Show that the inversion permutation, i
v1.3 research notesPropp: Show that the inversion permutation, i.e., the one which takes s to 1/s mod p, has longest increasing subsequence of length 2√ p(1+o(1)), i.e.,...
What is the length of the shortest sequence in [n]* containing, as a (consecutive) subword, each permutation of [n]
v1.3 research notesWhat is the length of the shortest sequence in [n]* containing, as a (consecutive) subword, each permutation of [n]? See this, this, this, this, and t...
A d-dimensional permutation of order n is an n-by-n-by
v1.3 research notesLinal/Luria: A d-dimensional permutation of order n is an n-by-n-by-...-by-n (d+1)-dimensional array of zeroes and ones, with the property that every ...
What are the Whitney numbers of the (lattice of contractions of the) n-cube
v1.3 research notes: What are the Whitney numbers of the (lattice of contractions of the) n-cube? What if contractions equivalent under symmetries of the cube are identi...
Is the poset of integer partitions ordered by refinement Sperner
v1.3 research notesIs the poset of integer partitions ordered by refinement Sperner?...
How many comparisons are needed to determine a linear order of the Boolean poset
v1.3 research notesFishburn, Pekec, Reeds: How many comparisons are needed to determine a linear order of the Boolean poset? That is, what is the fewest number of questi...
Show that the jump number of a random linear extension of a grid poset (i
v1.3 research notes: Show that the jump number of a random linear extension of a grid poset (i.e., a product of chains) is close to the maximum w.h.p. (For the "symmetri...
("Diamond-Free Posets Problem") What is the size of the largest subset of the Boolean lattice B_(n) which includes no B_
v1.3 research notesGriggs, Lu: ("Diamond-Free Posets Problem") What is the size of the largest subset of the Boolean lattice B_(n) which includes no B_(2) as a subposet?...
For any poset P, define ex(n,P) to be the size of the largest subset of the Boolean lattice B_(n) which includes no (inj
v1.3 research notesGriggs, Lu: For any poset P, define ex(n,P) to be the size of the largest subset of the Boolean lattice B_(n) which includes no (injective) copy of P ...
"1/3 - 2/3 Conjecture" For every poset that is not a chain, there is some pair of elements x and y so that x appears abo
v1.3 research notesKislitsyn: "1/3 - 2/3 Conjecture" For every poset that is not a chain, there is some pair of elements x and y so that x appears above y in a random li...
Is enumeration of pressing sequences of bicolored graphs (aka simple pseudographs) #P-hard
v1.3 research notes: Is enumeration of pressing sequences of bicolored graphs (aka simple pseudographs) #P-hard? Is there an FPRAS for sampling them?...
Is the 1/3-2/3 Conjecture for Pressing Sequences true
v1.3 research notes: Is the 1/3-2/3 Conjecture for Pressing Sequences true? That is, if a graph G is not uniquely pressable, is it true that there much be two vertices x...
In the binary expansion of sqrt(2), are there arbitrarily long sequences of 0's
v1.3 research notesErdős: In the binary expansion of sqrt(2), are there arbitrarily long sequences of 0's? Can you find a single algebraic number with this property?...
Given any subset S of the integers modulo a prime p, what is the least K=K(p) for which there always exists an m so that
v1.3 research notesAlon, Peres: Given any subset S of the integers modulo a prime p, what is the least K=K(p) for which there always exists an m so that mS has no gap of...