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A discrete iteration related to Pierce expansions ★★

Author(s): Shallit

Conjecture   Let $ a > b > 0 $ be integers. Set $ b_1 = b $ and $ b_{i+1} = {a \bmod {b_i}} $ for $ i \geq 0 $. Eventually we have $ b_{n+1} = 0 $; put $ P(a,b) = n $.

Example: $ P(35, 22) = 7 $, since $ b_1 = 22 $, $ b_2 = 13 $, $ b_3 = 9 $, $ b_4 = 8 $, $ b_5 = 3 $, $ b_6 = 2 $, $ b_7 = 1 $, $ b_8 = 0 $.

Prove or disprove: $ P(a,b) = O((\log a)^2) $.

Keywords: Pierce expansions

Bounding the chromatic number of triangle-free graphs with fixed maximum degree ★★

Author(s): Kostochka; Reed

Conjecture   A triangle-free graph with maximum degree $ \Delta $ has chromatic number at most $ \ceil{\frac{\Delta}{2}}+2 $.

Keywords: chromatic number; girth; maximum degree; triangle free

Hedetniemi's Conjecture ★★★

Author(s): Hedetniemi

Conjecture   If $ G,H $ are simple finite graphs, then $ \chi(G \times H) = \min \{ \chi(G), \chi(H) \} $.

Here $ G \times H $ is the tensor product (also called the direct or categorical product) of $ G $ and $ H $.

Keywords: categorical product; coloring; homomorphism; tensor product

Diophantine quintuple conjecture ★★

Author(s):

Definition   A set of m positive integers $ \{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_m\} $ is called a Diophantine $ m $-tuple if $ a_i\cdot a_j + 1 $ is a perfect square for all $ 1 \leq i < j \leq m $.
Conjecture  (1)   Diophantine quintuple does not exist.

It would follow from the following stronger conjecture [Da]:

Conjecture  (2)   If $ \{a, b, c, d\} $ is a Diophantine quadruple and $ d > \max \{a, b, c\} $, then $ d = a + b + c + 2bc + 2\sqrt{(ab+1)(ac+1)(bc+1)}. $

Keywords:

Several ways to apply a (multivalued) multiargument function to a family of filters ★★★

Author(s): Porton

Problem   Let $ \mathcal{X} $ be an indexed family of filters on sets. Which of the below items are always pairwise equal?

1. The funcoid corresponding to this function (considered as a single argument function on indexed families) applied to the reloidal product of filters $ \mathcal{X} $.

2. The funcoid corresponding to this function (considered as a single argument function on indexed families) applied to the starred reloidal product of filters $ \mathcal{X} $.

3. $ \bigcap_{F\in\operatorname{up}^{\mathrm{FCD}}\prod^{\mathrm{Strd}}\mathcal{X}}\langle f \rangle F $.

Keywords: funcoid; function; multifuncoid; staroid

Jones' conjecture ★★

Author(s): Kloks; Lee; Liu

For a graph $ G $, let $ cp(G) $ denote the cardinality of a maximum cycle packing (collection of vertex disjoint cycles) and let $ cc(G) $ denote the cardinality of a minimum feedback vertex set (set of vertices $ X $ so that $ G-X $ is acyclic).

Conjecture   For every planar graph $ G $, $ cc(G)\leq 2cp(G) $.

Keywords: cycle packing; feedback vertex set; planar graph

Multicolour Erdős--Hajnal Conjecture ★★★

Author(s): Erdos; Hajnal

Conjecture   For every fixed $ k\geq2 $ and fixed colouring $ \chi $ of $ E(K_k) $ with $ m $ colours, there exists $ \varepsilon>0 $ such that every colouring of the edges of $ K_n $ contains either $ k $ vertices whose edges are coloured according to $ \chi $ or $ n^\varepsilon $ vertices whose edges are coloured with at most $ m-1 $ colours.

Keywords: ramsey theory

Sidorenko's Conjecture ★★★

Author(s): Sidorenko

Conjecture   For any bipartite graph $ H $ and graph $ G $, the number of homomorphisms from $ H $ to $ G $ is at least $ \left(\frac{2|E(G)|}{|V(G)|^2}\right)^{|E(H)|}|V(G)|^{|V(H)|} $.

Keywords: density problems; extremal combinatorics; homomorphism

Edge-Unfolding Convex Polyhedra ★★

Author(s): Shephard

Conjecture   Every convex polyhedron has a (nonoverlapping) edge unfolding.

Keywords: folding; nets

Point sets with no empty pentagon

Author(s): Wood

Problem   Classify the point sets with no empty pentagon.

Keywords: combinatorial geometry; visibility graph

Singmaster's conjecture ★★

Author(s): Singmaster

Conjecture   There is a finite upper bound on the multiplicities of entries in Pascal's triangle, other than the number $ 1 $.

The number $ 2 $ appears once in Pascal's triangle, $ 3 $ appears twice, $ 6 $ appears three times, and $ 10 $ appears $ 4 $ times. There are infinite families of numbers known to appear $ 6 $ times. The only number known to appear $ 8 $ times is $ 3003 $. It is not known whether any number appears more than $ 8 $ times. The conjectured upper bound could be $ 8 $; Singmaster thought it might be $ 10 $ or $ 12 $. See Singmaster's conjecture.

Keywords: Pascal's triangle

Waring rank of determinant ★★

Author(s): Teitler

Question   What is the Waring rank of the determinant of a $ d \times d $ generic matrix?

For simplicity say we work over the complex numbers. The $ d \times d $ generic matrix is the matrix with entries $ x_{i,j} $ for $ 1 \leq i,j \leq d $. Its determinant is a homogeneous form of degree $ d $, in $ d^2 $ variables. If $ F $ is a homogeneous form of degree $ d $, a power sum expression for $ F $ is an expression of the form $ F = \ell_1^d+\dotsb+\ell_r^d $, the $ \ell_i $ (homogeneous) linear forms. The Waring rank of $ F $ is the least number of terms $ r $ in any power sum expression for $ F $. For example, the expression $ xy = \frac{1}{4}(x+y)^2 - \frac{1}{4}(x-y)^2 $ means that $ xy $ has Waring rank $ 2 $ (it can't be less than $ 2 $, as $ xy \neq \ell_1^2 $).

The $ 2 \times 2 $ generic determinant $ x_{1,1}x_{2,2}-x_{1,2}x_{2,1} $ (or $ ad-bc $) has Waring rank $ 4 $. The Waring rank of the $ 3 \times 3 $ generic determinant is at least $ 14 $ and no more than $ 20 $, see for instance Lower bound for ranks of invariant forms, Example 4.1. The Waring rank of the permanent is also of interest. The comparison between the determinant and permanent is potentially relevant to Valiant's "VP versus VNP" problem.

Keywords: Waring rank, determinant

Monochromatic vertex colorings inherited from Perfect Matchings ★★★

Author(s):

Conjecture   For which values of $ n $ and $ d $ are there bi-colored graphs on $ n $ vertices and $ d $ different colors with the property that all the $ d $ monochromatic colorings have unit weight, and every other coloring cancels out?

Keywords:

Cycle Double Covers Containing Predefined 2-Regular Subgraphs ★★★

Author(s): Arthur; Hoffmann-Ostenhof

Conjecture   Let $ G $ be a $ 2 $-connected cubic graph and let $ S $ be a $ 2 $-regular subgraph such that $ G-E(S) $ is connected. Then $ G $ has a cycle double cover which contains $ S $ (i.e all cycles of $ S $).

Keywords:

Monochromatic reachability in arc-colored digraphs ★★★

Author(s): Sands; Sauer; Woodrow

Conjecture   For every $ k $, there exists an integer $ f(k) $ such that if $ D $ is a digraph whose arcs are colored with $ k $ colors, then $ D $ has a $ S $ set which is the union of $ f(k) $ stables sets so that every vertex has a monochromatic path to some vertex in $ S $.

Keywords:

3-Decomposition Conjecture ★★★

Author(s): Arthur; Hoffmann-Ostenhof

Conjecture   (3-Decomposition Conjecture) Every connected cubic graph $ G $ has a decomposition into a spanning tree, a family of cycles and a matching.

Keywords: cubic graph

Which outer reloids are equal to inner ones ★★

Author(s): Porton

Warning: This formulation is vague (not exact).

Question   Characterize the set $ \{f\in\mathsf{FCD} \mid (\mathsf{RLD})_{\mathrm{in}} f=(\mathsf{RLD})_{\mathrm{out}} f\} $. In other words, simplify this formula.

The problem seems rather difficult.

Keywords:

A diagram about funcoids and reloids ★★

Author(s): Porton

Define for posets with order $ \sqsubseteq $:

  1. $ \Phi_{\ast} f = \lambda b \in \mathfrak{B}: \bigcup \{ x \in \mathfrak{A} \mid f x \sqsubseteq b \} $;
  2. $ \Phi^{\ast} f = \lambda b \in \mathfrak{A}: \bigcap \{ x \in \mathfrak{B} \mid f x \sqsupseteq b \} $.

Note that the above is a generalization of monotone Galois connections (with $ \max $ and $ \min $ replaced with suprema and infima).

Then we have the following diagram:

What is at the node "other" in the diagram is unknown.

Conjecture   "Other" is $ \lambda f\in\mathsf{FCD}: \top $.
Question   What repeated applying of $ \Phi_{\ast} $ and $ \Phi^{\ast} $ to "other" leads to? Particularly, does repeated applying $ \Phi_{\ast} $ and/or $ \Phi^{\ast} $ to the node "other" lead to finite or infinite sets?

Keywords: Galois connections

Outward reloid of composition vs composition of outward reloids ★★

Author(s): Porton

Conjecture   For every composable funcoids $ f $ and $ g $ $$(\mathsf{RLD})_{\mathrm{out}}(g\circ f)\sqsupseteq(\mathsf{RLD})_{\mathrm{out}}g\circ(\mathsf{RLD})_{\mathrm{out}}f.$$

Keywords: outward reloid

Sum of prime and semiprime conjecture ★★

Author(s): Geoffrey Marnell

Conjecture   Every even number greater than $ 10 $ can be represented as the sum of an odd prime number and an odd semiprime .

Keywords: prime; semiprime