Lecture 22 April 18.ppt

Lecture 22: April 18 * Probabilistic Method Why Randomness? Probabilistic method: Proving the existence of an object satisfying certain properties without actually constructing it. Show that a random object satisfying those properties with positive probability! That is, “create” the desired object by flipping coins! Ramsey Number Given a complete graph, we want to colour its edges by 2 colours. Ramsey number R(k,l): is the smallest number n so that: For every complete graph G with at least n vertices, then any 2-colouring of G would either has a red complete subgraph of size k (a red K(k)) or a blue complete subgraph of size l (a blue K(l)). R(k,l) Number of vertices There is a colouring with no red K(k) and no blue K(l). Every colouring must have a red K(k) or a blue K(l). Ramsey Number R(3,3) R(3,3) Number of vertices There is a colouring with no red K(3) and no blue K(3). Every colouring must have a red K(3) or a blue K(3). What is R(3,3)? So R(3,3) 5. Ramsey Number R(3,3) R(3,3) Number of vertices There is a colouring with no red K(3) and no blue K(3). Every colouring must have a red K(3) or a blue K(3). Claim: R(3,3)=6. Proof: Suppose the edges of a complete graph on 6 vertices are coloured red and blue. Pick a vertex v. There are 5 edges incident to v and so at least 3 of them must be the same colour, say blue. If any of the edges (r, s), (r, t), (s, t) are also blue then we have an entirely blue triangle. If not, then those three edges are all red and we have with an entirely red triangle. Ramsey Theorem Ramsey Theorem: R(k,l) is finite for any k,l. Claim: R(r, s) ≤ R(r???1, s) + R(r, s???1): Consider a complete graph on R(r???1, s) + R(r, s???1) vertices. Pick a vertex v from the graph and consider two subgraphs M and N where a vertex w is in M if and only if (v, w) is red and is in N otherwise. Now, either |M| ≥ R(r ? 1, s) or |N| ≥ R(r, s ? 1). In the former case if M has a blue K(s) then so does the original graph and we are finished. Otherwis