How to colour the US map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue to minimize the number of states with the colour of...
How to split my screen on my Macbook Air?
does high air pressure throw off wheel balance?
How can I define good in a religion that claims no moral authority?
Finding the path in a graph from A to B then back to A with a minimum of shared edges
How many people can fit inside Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion?
How to politely respond to generic emails requesting a PhD/job in my lab? Without wasting too much time
Match Roman Numerals
Can a novice safely splice in wire to lengthen 5V charging cable?
Keeping a retro style to sci-fi spaceships?
Hiding Certain Lines on Table
Didn't get enough time to take a Coding Test - what to do now?
What is this lever in Argentinian toilets?
Single author papers against my advisor's will?
ELI5: Why do they say that Israel would have been the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon and why do they call it low cost?
What are these Gizmos at Izaña Atmospheric Research Center in Spain?
Do working physicists consider Newtonian mechanics to be "falsified"?
How did passengers keep warm on sail ships?
Can the prologue be the backstory of your main character?
Did God make two great lights or did He make the great light two?
Take groceries in checked luggage
Make it rain characters
How to test the equality of two Pearson correlation coefficients computed from the same sample?
How is simplicity better than precision and clarity in prose?
Why can't devices on different VLANs, but on the same subnet, communicate?
How to colour the US map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue to minimize the number of states with the colour of Green
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are In
Announcing the arrival of Valued Associate #679: Cesar Manara
Planned maintenance scheduled April 17/18, 2019 at 00:00UTC (8:00pm US/Eastern)Did the Appel/Haken graph colouring (four colour map) proof really not contribute to understanding?Counterexamples to proofs of correct statementsHow many Latin Squares are there with the following restrictions?$Z_n backslash {0}$ splits into octetsKempe's proof of the four colour theoremAlgorithm to solve this grid puzzle?Explain this proof of the 5-color theoremFinding a maximum connected planar graph to prove the four colour theoremThe $n$-astrolabacus sequence.Strategies in Memory game
$begingroup$
I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.
Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.
My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.
Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).
graph-theory recreational-mathematics
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.
Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.
My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.
Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).
graph-theory recreational-mathematics
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.
Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.
My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.
Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).
graph-theory recreational-mathematics
$endgroup$
I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.
Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.
My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.
Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).
graph-theory recreational-mathematics
graph-theory recreational-mathematics
edited 42 mins ago
YuiTo Cheng
2,40641037
2,40641037
asked 2 hours ago
Bor KariBor Kari
3749
3749
1
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.
But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:
Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3186983%2fhow-to-colour-the-us-map-with-yellow-green-red-and-blue-to-minimize-the-number%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.
But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:
Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.
But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:
Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.
But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:
Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.
$endgroup$
The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.
But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:
Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.
edited 1 hour ago
answered 2 hours ago
Misha LavrovMisha Lavrov
49.3k757108
49.3k757108
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago
2
2
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
1 hour ago
1
1
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
$begingroup$
@antkam By hand. I found two subgraphs where a fourth color is forced, and chose a state from each of them to color green that seemed to be a good choice. Then I just tried to color the rest with three colors - and for that, once you color the first two states, most of the rest of the map is forced, except for a few states like Maine.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
13 mins ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3186983%2fhow-to-colour-the-us-map-with-yellow-green-red-and-blue-to-minimize-the-number%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
2 hours ago