Ramsey Theorem

Presented By:
Nova Musarrat Talukder : 19-91198-1
Md. Abir Hasan : 19-91149-1
Outline
History of Ramsey Theory

From Pigeonhole Principle to Ramsey Theory

Ramsey Theory

Some Useful Definitions for Ramsey Theory

Examples

Ramsey Number

Some Useful Definitions for Ramsey Number

Example
History of Ramsey Theory
The naming popularity of Ramsey theory goes to
British mathematician Frank Plumpton Ramsey,
who distributed a paper in 1928 with confirmation
of what we currently consider Ramsey's Theorem
another work which would be most effectively
delegated a piece of Ramsey hypothesis. The
principle commitment Ramsey made was Ramsey
Theorem, which has an assortment of definitions
relying upon the setting in which the theorem is
proposed to be utilized.
From Pigeonhole Principle to Ramsey
Theory
If more than 𝑛 pigeons are put into 𝑛 pigeonholes,
then there is a pigeonhole that contains at least two
pigeons.

If 𝑚 objects are partitioned in 𝑛 classes, then some

class contains at least 𝑚/𝑛 objects and some class
contains at most 𝑚/𝑛 objects.

Ramsey Theory is a generalization of pigeonhole

principle.
Ramsey Theory
For any k < l and r, there exists R = R(k,l,r) so that
for any r-coloring of the k-element sets of an R-
element set, there is always some l-element set
with all of its k-element subsets having the same
color.

Frank Plumpton Ramsey

(1903-1930)
SOME USEFUL DEFINITIONS FOR
RAMSEY THEORY
Definition 1: A graph G = (V, E) is a set of vertices and
edges, where V (G) and E(G) are the sets of vertices
and edges in G, respectively.

-Because a lot of Ramsey theory utilizes graph theory,

it’s important to establish a definition of a graph.
Ramsey theory can also be applied to constructs such
as groups or sequences, but nearly all of the focus in
this paper will be on graph theory applications of
Ramsey theory.
Definition 2: A complete graph on n vertices, denoted
Kn, is a graph in which every vertex is adjacent, or
connected by an edge, to every other vertex in G.

Definition 3: An r-coloring of the edges of a graph is a

function χ that assigns to each edge one of r colors. For
convenience, we will usually denote the colors by
numbers in the set {1, . . . , r}.
Definition 4: An independent set of a graph is a
subset of vertices such that there exists no edges
between any pair of vertices in that subset.

Definition 5: A simple graph is a graph such that the

vertices in the edge pairs are unordered, there is
only one edge between any two vertices, and no
edge connects a vertex to itself.
Examples:

Small Ramsey numbers: A 2-coloured graph is a

graph whose edges have been coloured with 2
different colours.
R(3, 3) = 6.

We see first that R(3, 3) > 5 from the colouring of

K5 below. This colouring shows K5 may be 2-
coloured such that it does not contain a red or
blue K3 as a sub-graph.
R(4, 3) = 9.

We see first that R(4, 3) > 8 from the colouring of

K8 below. This colouring shows K8 may be 2-
coloured such that it does not contain a red K4 or a
blue K3 as a sub-graph.
Ramsey Number
A Ramsey Number, written as n = R(r, b), is the
smallest integer n such that the 2-colored graph
Kn, using the colors red and blue for edges,
implies a red monochromatic sub-graph Kr or a
blue monochromatic sub-graph Kb.
Some Useful Definitions for Ramsey
Number
For all r, b ∈ N, the relationship R(r, b) = R(b, r)
holds.

For all r, b ∈ N, the inequality R(r, b) ≤ R(r − 1, b) +

R(r, b − 1) holds.

R(n, k) is finite for all n and k.

R(n1, . . . , nk) is finite for all k and choices of ni

Example
R(3, 3) = 6

R(3, 3) ≤ 6 and so R(3, 3) = 6. Indeed, in any

colouring of K6 each vertex must be incident to
at least three red or three blue edges by the
pigeonhole principle.