Unanswered Questions
3,137 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
24
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How much of the plane is 4-colorable?
In 1981, Falconer proved that the measurable chromatic number of the plane is at least 5. That is, there are no measurable sets $A_1,A_2,A_3,A_4\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2$, each avoiding unit distances, ...
- 7,593
24
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486
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Is the Poset of Graphs Automorphism-free?
For $n\geq 5$, let $\mathcal {P}_n$ be the set of all isomorphism classes of graphs with n vertices. Give this set the poset structure given by $G \le H$ if and only if $G$ is a subgraph of $H$.
Is ...
23
votes
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1k
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Do all possible trees arise as orbit trees of some permutation groups?
I.Motivation from descriptive set theory
(Contains some quotes from Maciej Malicki's paper.)
The classical theorem of Birkhoff-Kakutani implies that every metrizable topological group G admits a ...
CommunityBot
- 1
22
votes
0
answers
544
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Zero curves of Tutte Polynomials?
There is an extensive theory of the real and complex roots of the chromatic polynomial of a graph, a substantial fraction of this being due to the connections between the chromatic polynomial and a ...
- 12.3k
22
votes
0
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805
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Combinatorics of Quantum Schubert Polynomials
Let $S_n$ be the symmetric group. Let $s_i$ denote the adjacent transposition $(i \ i+1)$. For any permutation $w\in S_n$, an expression $w=s_{i_1}s_{i_2}\cdots s_{i_p}$ of minimal possible length is ...
- 13.3k
22
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0
answers
3k
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Origins of the Nerve Theorem
Recently, I've read two papers which have cited the Nerve Theorem, one crediting Borsuk with the result and another Leray. Here is the question:
Who was the first to prove the Nerve Theorem?
- 24.4k
21
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0
answers
430
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Straight-line drawing of regular polyhedra
Find the minimum number of straight lines needed to cover a crossing-free straight-line drawing of the icosahedron $(13\dots 15)$ and of the dodecahedron $(9\dots 10)$ (in the plane).
For example, ...
- 4,282
21
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0
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597
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Coloring a Ferrers diagram
I've shopped the problem below around a bit and it seems like it might be known, or not that hard to resolve, but so far I've come up empty-handed.
Say that a coloring of the dots of a Ferrers ...
- 80.3k
21
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0
answers
2k
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The Fourier Transform of taking Eigenvalues
The purpose of this question is to ask about the Fourier transform of the map which associate to an $n$ by $n$ matrix its $n$ eigenvalues, or some function of the $n$ eigenvalues. The main motivation ...
- 51.9k
21
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0
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902
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Cauchy matrices with elementary symmetric polynomials
$\newcommand{\vx}{\mathbf{x}}$
Let $e_k(\vx)$ denote the elementary symmetric polynomial, defined for $k=0,1,\ldots,n$ over a vector $\vx=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ by
\begin{equation*}
e_k(\vx) := \sum_{1 \...
- 28.5k
21
votes
1
answer
1k
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Tiling rectangle with trominoes — an invariant
There are two types of trominoes, straight shapes and L-shaped. Suppose a rectangle $R$ admits at least one tiling using trominoes, with an even number of L-trominoes.
EDIT: we do not admit ALL ...
CommunityBot
- 1
20
votes
0
answers
559
views
Hall's Marriage Theorem and intervals
In Hall's Marriage Theorem, we have a set $B$ of brides and $G$ of
grooms, where each bride $b$ has an acceptable set $A_b \subseteq G$
of grooms. A matching $m:B\to G$ is an injection such that $m(b)
...
- 27.7k
19
votes
0
answers
595
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Large values of characters of the symmetric group
For $g$ an element of a group and $\chi$ an irreducible character, there are two easy bounds for the character value $\chi(g)$: First, the bound $|\chi(g)|\leq \chi(1)$ by the dimension of the ...
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19
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420
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Row of the character table of symmetric group with most negative entries
The row of the character table of $S_n$ corresponding to the trivial representation has all entries positive, and by orthogonality clearly it is the only one like this.
Is it true that for $n\gg 0$, ...
- 23.1k
19
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answers
611
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Simpler proofs of certain Ramsey numbers
The reason for the gorgeous simplicity of the classic proofs of $R(3,3)$, $R(4,4)$, $R(3,4)$ and $R(3,5)$ is that essentially all you need is the trivial bound and a picture.
But for bigger Ramsey ...
- 17.5k