The Four Color Theorem

Munir uz zaman

For the sake of brevity of the proof, I will first define some special types of graphs.(These definitions are
not conventional .)

Here i have used the word connected (a and b are connected) to mean that there is an edge between a
and b.

Lines: A line is a connected graph where every node has a degree of at least 1 and at most 2. Trying
to color such graphs is like trying to generate a sequence of number such that, the nth number is not
equal to the number before and after. Thus these graphs can be colored with only two colors.

Cycle: A cycles is a connected graph where every node has a degree of one. Trying to color such
graphs is like trying to generate a sequence of number such that, the nth number is not equal to the
number before and after and the first number of the sequence is not equal to the last number in the
sequence. Thus these graphs can be colored using 2 or at most 3 colors.

Island (Complete): A Complete Island ( I )is a graph with a cycle (Shell of the island) and one
extra node which is connected to all other nodes in the graph. Because the shell can be colored with 3
colors at most, an island can be colored with 3 or at most 4 colors.

Island (Incomplete): An Incomplete Island ( I’ ) is a graph with a collection of lines ( Border of

the island) and one extra node which is connected to all other nodes in the graph. Because the borders
can be colored with 2 colors, an incomplete island can be colored with 3 colors.
Center: We will call the node with the highest degree the center of the island. Like in the figure below
A is the center of an incomplete island.

Some properties of the graph of a map:

1. Let A be some node in the map which is connected to a sequence of nodes A1,A2…..An. If n>2
then each node in the sequence must be connected to at least two other nodes in the sequence.
Thus if A is some node with a degree greater than 2 then it is the center of some island.

2. If B is some node connected to some other node A which is a node belonging to the shell of
some island, according to the first property , A will be the center of some island and B will be
connected to the nodes with which A is connected (Except the center of the island) .
3. If in a map there is a sub graph where every node has at most degree 2 then the sub graph is a
cycle or a line.
4. Two edges cannot intersect in a map.

So with these two properties in mind we can say that a map is just a collection of islands
(mostly), lines and cycles.
Coloring islands:
We know that an island can be colored with four colors. Now let’s try to color a collection of them. If the
center of an island is connected to the center of some other island then there is a node connected to
that node which can be thought of as the new center.
By that I mean that in a collection of islands we can always find islands whose centers are not
connected. Thus we can always color those centers the same. Now first we will color the shell of some
island. We have at most used 4 colors. Some shells of other islands will also be partially or fully colored.
So we just have to color those partially colored shells.
In a partially colored shell we can find a Line or Cycle (Sub graph of those shells) whose few nodes are
just colored. No matter what their colors are we can color the rest of the line using at most 3 colors.
Likewise we can color the other shells. But we have to make sure that the coloring is legal.

Island <<Map>> coloring algorithm:

1. Identify the island whose centers are not connected by an edge. Color them all the same.
2. Color the shell of the islands.
3. Find the line or cycle sub graphs which are partially colored .Color those sub graphs legally.

Since Maps are just collection of islands, lines and cycles we can use the algorithm to color maps.

In this graph we can take the green nodes as our

disconnected centers.

In the map of Germany the regions which are colored purple can be thought of disconnected
centers.

I’ve also used the algorithm to color some regions of Bangladesh and they work fine.