Re: I have correct proof of 4-color theorem


cuishitai12000@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> To Proginoskes
> You seem to be the friend of Robertson, Sanders, Seymour, and Thomas,

Robin Thomas was my thesis advisor. I've met the other three as well.

> As you said "I also know of another alleged proof, which doesn't use
> computers, and
> yet another one which uses "spiral chains" to 4-color a planar graph."
> I think there are
> no more than 5 alleged proofs you can list. Be sure you tell the
> truth .

But I have! These are the only 4 plausible proofs of the 4CT of which
_I_ am aware: (I'm pretty sure that the first two are actually
correct.)

(1) Appel & Haken
(2) Robertson, Sanders, Seymour, Thomas
(3) a non-computer proof by another author, which I learned about from
Robin Thomas
(4) the spiral chain proof (And the spiral chain method is looking
shaky at the moment.)

I never said I knew of more than these.

However, there are _lots_ of _invalid_ proofs.

> Why it is said "They get a huge number of submissions,
> and it is just not humanly possible to get every one of these papers
> refereed. They get a huge number of submissions,
> and it is just not humanly possible to get every one of these papers
> refereed. "
> Do you know why my submission is not accepted?

Because nobody in the mathematical community believes there is a short
proof of the 4CT. The problem was first stated in 1853, and people like
Kempe, Heesch, Tutte, Tait, etc., worked on the problem but couldn't
find a simple solution. These are big names in the field, and it is
extremely unlikely that they missed a simple proof. (Methods from
Kempe's and Heesch's failed attempts eventually ended up in the two
proofs (1) and (2) above.)

The same thing is true for Fermat's Last Theorem -- lots of
professional mathematicians (in the hundreds, surely) worked on the
problem but couldn't find a short proof. (Only one -- Andrew Wiles --
succeeded in proving it for ALL n>2.)

When people submitted short proofs, they were examined critically, and
an error was always found.

It's like the following situation: The sun has "risen" every day for
thousands of years. Will it "rise" tomorrow?

But in any case, if you feel that your proof is correct, post it here,
or post it at a website and tell us where it is!

--- Christopher Heckman

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