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ErdsSzekeres theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ErdsSzekeres theorem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, the ErdsSzekeres theorem is a finitary result that makes precise one of the corollaries of Ramsey's theorem. While Ramsey's theorem makes it easy to prove that every sequence of distinct real numbers contains a monotonically increasing infinite subsequence or a monotonically decreasing infinite subsequence, the result proved by Paul Erds and George Szekeresgoes further. For given r, s they showed that any sequence of length at least (r 1)(s 1) + 1 contains a monotonically increasing subsequence of length r or a monotonically decreasing subsequence of length s . The proof appeared in the same 1935 paper that mentions the Happy Ending problem.[1]
Contents [hide] 1 Example 2 Alternative interpretations 2.1 Geometric interpretation 2.2 Permutation pattern interpretation 3 Proofs 3.1 Pigeonhole principle 3.2 Dilworth's theorem 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

A path of four positively sloped edges in a set of 17 points. If one forms a sequence of they-coordinates of the points, in order by their x -coordinates, the ErdsSzekeres theorem ensures that there exists either a path of this type or one the same length in w hich all slopes are 0. How ever, if the central point is omitted, no such path w ould exist.

Example

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For r = 3 and s = 2, the formula tells us that any permutation of three numbers has an increasing subsequence of length three or a decreasing subsequence of length two. Among the six permutations of the numbers 1,2,3: 1,2,3 has an increasing subsequence consisting of all three numbers 1,3,2 has a decreasing subsequence 3,2 2,1,3 has a decreasing subsequence 2,1 2,3,1 has two decreasing subsequences, 2,1 and 3,1 3,1,2 has two decreasing subsequences, 3,1 and 3,2 3,2,1 has three decreasing length-2 subsequences, 3,2, 3,1, and 2,1.

Alternative interpretations

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ErdsSzekeres theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geometric interpretation

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One can interpret the positions of the numbers in a sequence as x-coordinates of points in the Euclidean plane, and the numbers themselves as y-coordinates; conversely, for any point set in the plane, the y-coordinates of the points, ordered by their x-coordinates, forms a sequence of numbers (unless two of the points have equal x-coordinates). With this translation between sequences and point sets, the ErdsSzekeres theorem can be interpreted as stating that in any set of at least rs r s + 2 points we can find a polygonal path of either r 1 positive-slope edges or s 1 negative-slope edges. In particular (takingr = s ), in any set of at least n points we can find a polygonal path of at least (n-1) edges with same-sign slopes. For instance, taking r = s = 5, any set of at least 17 points has a four-edge path in which all slopes have the same sign. An example of rs r s + 1 points without such a path, showing that this bound is tight, can be formed by applying a small rotation to an (r 1) by (s 1) grid.

Permutation pattern interpretation

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The ErdsSzekeres theorem may also be interpreted in the language of permutation patterns as stating that every permutation of length at least rs + 1 must contain either the pattern 1, 2, 3, ..., r + 1 or the pattern s + 1, s , ..., 2, 1.

Proofs

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The ErdsSzekeres theorem can be proved in several different ways; Steele (1995) surveys six different proofs of the ErdsSzekeres theorem, including the following two.[2] Other proofs surveyed by Steele include the original proof by Erds and Szekeres as well as those of Blackwell (1971),[3] Hammersley (1972),[4] and Lovsz (1979).[5]

Pigeonhole principle

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Given a sequence of length (r 1)(s 1) + 1, label each number ni in the sequence with the pair (ai ,b i ), where ai is the length of the longest monotonically increasing subsequence ending with ni and b i is the length of the longest monotonically decreasing subsequence ending with ni . Each two numbers in the sequence are labeled with a different pair: if i < j andni < nj then ai < aj , and on the other hand if ni > nj then b i < b j . But there are only (r 1)(s 1) possible labels in which ai is at most r 1 and b i is at most s 1, so by thepigeonhole principle there must exist a value of i for which ai or b i is outside this range. If ai is out of range then ni is part of an increasing sequence of length at least r, and if b i is out of range then ni is part of a decreasing sequence of length at least s . Steele (1995) credits this proof to the one-page paper of Seidenberg (1959) and calls it "the slickest and most systematic" of the proofs he surveys.[2][6]

Dilworth's theorem

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Another of the proofs uses Dilworth's theorem on chain decompositions in partial orders, or its simpler dual (Mirsky's theorem). To prove the theorem, define a partial ordering on the members of the sequence, in which x is less than or equal to y in the partial order if x y as numbers and x is not later than y in the sequence. A chain in this partial order is a monotonically increasing subsequence, and anantichain is a monotonically decreasing subsequence. By Mirsky's theorem, either there is
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ErdsSzekeres theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

a chain of length r, or the sequence can be partitioned into at most r 1 antichains; but in that case the largest of the antichains must form a decreasing subsequence with length at least

Alternatively, by Dilworth's theorem itself, either there is an antichain of length s , or the sequence can be partitioned into at most s 1 chains, the longest of which must have length at least r.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erd%C5%91s%E2%80%93Szekeres_theorem

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