A 2-coloring of \([1, N]\) can have \((1/22) N^2+O(N)\) monochromatic Schur triples, but not less (Q1383294)

The authors solve the following problem posed by Ron Graham: Find (asymptotically) the least number of monochromatic Schur triples \(\{i,j,i+j\}\) that may occur in a 2-coloring of the integers \(1,2,\dots, n\). First the problem is recast as a minimization problem over the discrete \(n\)-cube. The non-positivity of certain discrete partial derivatives forces local minima to satisfy a ``ping-pong'' recurrence which the authors solved explicitly using Maple to obtain the result of the title. The methods extend to give an upper bound for the minimum number of monochromatic triples for \(r\)-colorings. Note: As acknowledged by the authors, this problem has been solved independently by \textit{Tomasz Schoen} [On the number of monochromatic Schur triples (in preparation)].