Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Four Color Theorem: A Possible New Approach, Matthew Brady

All Student Theses

The goal of this thesis is to explore the topic of graph coloring and expand on existing ideas in the field of Graph Theory. These developments will then be used to provide a possible approach in proving the 4 – color theorem that was made famous by Guthrie in the 1800’s.

Since the theorem was presented, many proofs were presented and eventually disregarded for one reason or another. Today, the types of proofs that are considered correct all rely on a computer. The first of this kind was set forth by Appel and Haken in 1977. The driving idea behind …