Abstract

The two-color Ramsey number R(G , H) is defined to be the smallest integer n such that any graph F on n vertices contains either a subgraph isomorphic to G or the complement of F contains a subgraph isomorphic to H. Ramsey numbers serve to quantify many of the existing theorems of Ramsey theory, which looks at large combinatorial objects for certain given smaller combinatorial objects that must be present. In 1989 George R. T. Hendry presented a table of two-color Ramsey numbers R(G , H) for all pairs of graphs G and H having at most five vertices. This table left seven unsolved cases, of which three have since been solved. This thesis eliminates one of the remaining four cases, R(W5 , K5), where a K5 is the complete graph on five vertices and a W5 is a wheel of order 5, which can be pictured as a wheel having four spokes or as a cycle of length 4 having all four vertices adjacent to a central vertex. In this thesis we show R(W5, K5) to be equal to 27, utilizing a combinatorial approach with significant computations. Specifically we use a technique developed by McKay and Radziszowski to effectively glue together smaller graphs in an effort to prove exhaustively that no graph having 27 vertices exists that does not contain an independent set on five vertices or a subgraph isomorphic to W5. The previous best bounds for this case were 27 <= R( W_5 , K_5 ) <= 29.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

QA166 .S75 2004; Ramsey numbers; Ramsey theory; Graph theory; Combinatorial analysis

Publication Date

2006

Document Type

Master's Project

Student Type

Graduate

Department, Program, or Center

Computer Science (GCCIS)

Advisor

Radziszowski, Stanislaw - Chair

Advisor/Committee Member

Hemaspaandra, Edith

Advisor/Committee Member

Tse, Kung-Kuen

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works in February 2013.

Additional Files
JStinehourProposal2003.pdf (108 kB)

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Download

Additional files available below

Share

COinS