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Post Made Community Wiki by S. Carnahan♦
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The theorem of "friends and strangers": the Ramsey number $R(3,3)=6$.
Not only can the proof be understood by high-school students, proofs a proof can be discovered
by students at that level via something akin to the Socratic method.
First students can establish the bound $R(3,3) > 5$ by 2-coloring the edges of $K_5$:
After this exercise, an inductive proof of the 2-color version of Ramsey's theorem is in reach. An added bonus here is that one quickly reaches the frontiers of mathematics: $R(5,5)$ is unknown! It can be a revelation to students that there is a frontier of mathematics. And then one can tell the Erdős story about $R(6,6)$, as recounted here. :-) |
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The theorem of "friends and strangers": the Ramsey number $R(3,3)=6$.
Not only can the proof be understood by high-school students, proofs can be discovered
by students at that level via something akin to the Socratic method.
First students can establish the bound $R(3,3) > 5$ by 2-coloring the edges of $K_5$:
After this exercise, an inductive proof of the 2-color version of Ramsey's theorem is in reach. An added bonus here is that one quickly reaches the frontiers of mathematics: $R(5,5)$ is unknown! It can be a revelation to students that there is a frontier of mathematics. And then one can tell the Erdős story about $R(6,6)$, as recounted here. :-) |
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