The four-colour theorem

Neil Robertson, Daniel Sanders, Paul Seymour, Robin Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

379 Scopus citations

Abstract

The four-colour theorem, that every loopless planar graph admits a vertex-colouring with at most four different colours, was proved in 1976 by Appel and Haken, using a computer. Here we give another proof, still using a computer, but simpler than Appel and Haken's in several respects.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2-44
Number of pages43
JournalJournal of Combinatorial Theory. Series B
Volume70
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1997
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics
  • Computational Theory and Mathematics

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