Some arithmetical restatements of the four color conjecture (Q5941259): Difference between revisions

The Four Color Conjecture (4CC) says that every planar graph can be properly four colored using at most four colors. A history of this conjecture (before its verification) involved many different equivalent formulations, some quite far removed from the original statement. The author correctly argues that there is still interest in reformulations of this problem, especially if it can lead to a proof verifiable without computer calculations. This paper gives a reformulation of the 4CC in terms of a divisibility condition on the sums of certain binomial coefficients. The coefficients depend on certain parameters, the statement is that if we fix several of them we can find others so that the product is a multiple of seven. The relationship is intriguing, although it us unlikely to lead to an independent proof of the 4CC.