Four Color Theorem - Generalizations

Generalizations

The four-color theorem applies not only to finite planar graphs, but also to infinite graphs that can be drawn without crossings in the plane, and even more generally to infinite graphs (possibly with an uncountable number of vertices) for which every finite subgraph is planar. To prove this, one can combine a proof of the theorem for finite planar graphs with the De Bruijn–Erdős theorem stating that, if every finite subgraph of an infinite graph is k-colorable, then the whole graph is also k-colorable Nash-Williams (1967). This can also be seen as an immediate consequence of Kurt Gödel's compactness theorem for First-Order Logic, simply by expressing the colorability of an infinite graph with a set of logical formulae.

One can also consider the coloring problem on surfaces other than the plane (Weisstein). The problem on the sphere or cylinder is equivalent to that on the plane. For closed (orientable or non-orientable) surfaces with positive genus, the maximum number p of colors needed depends on the surface's Euler characteristic χ according to the formula

where the outermost brackets denote the floor function.

Alternatively, for an orientable surface the formula can be given in terms of the genus of a surface, g:

(Weisstein).

This formula, the Heawood conjecture, was conjectured by P.J. Heawood in 1890 and proven by Gerhard Ringel and J. T. W. Youngs in 1968. The only exception to the formula is the Klein bottle, which has Euler characteristic 0 (hence the formula gives p = 7) and requires 6 colors, as shown by P. Franklin in 1934 (Weisstein).

For example, the torus has Euler characteristic χ = 0 (and genus g = 1) and thus p = 7, so no more than 7 colors are required to color any map on a torus. The Szilassi polyhedron is an example that requires seven colors.

A Möbius strip requires six colors (Weisstein).

There is no obvious extension of the coloring result to three-dimensional solid regions. By using a set of n flexible rods, one can arrange that every rod touches every other rod. The set would then require n colors, or n+1 if you consider the empty space that also touches every rod. The number n can be taken to be any integer, as large as desired. Such examples were known to Fredrick Guthrie in 1880 (Wilson 2002). Even for axis-parallel cuboids (considered to be adjacent when two cuboids share a two-dimensional boundary area) an unbounded number of colors may be necessary (Reed & Allwright 2008; Magnant & Martin (2011)).