Kempe's Attempted Proof of the Four Color Theorem

Start Date: September 14, 2022
Event Start Time: 12:15 PM
Event End Time: 1:15 PM
Seminar Series: Graduate Combinatorics Seminar
Presenter(s): Charles Kenney - Rutgers University
Event Location: Mathematics Graduate Student Lounge -- 7th Floor | Rutgers University | Hill Center | Mathematics Department
Presentation Type: Stand Alone Presentation
Abstract:
In 1878, Arthur Cayley asked the London Mathematical Society for a proof of the four colour theorem: that any map drawn on a simply connected surface can be coloured with 4 or fewer colours so that no two adjacent regions receive the same colour. A year later in 1879, Alfred Kempe published a famous solution (attempt) to the problem Cayley had publicized, only to have a mistake pointed-out by Percy Heawood in 1890. I will discuss Kempe's (attempted) proof and, time permitting, Heawood's refutation.

Events