The Mathematical Garden

 | Welcome  | Games  | Mathematical methods  | About us |
Games
Black and White
HEX
Magic
Mark Six
Recursion, Games and Strategy
SIM
the game
an example
a question
the proof
How to win
SIM and pigeonhole
Ramsey's Theorem

Connection between the Pigeonhole Principle and Theorem 1

The Pigeonhole Principle and Theorem 1 are in fact special cases of a general mathematical theory: the Ramsey Theory.

If we put kn +1 balls in n boxes, then at least one box must contain k + 1 or more balls.

If we color kn +1 vertices by n colors, then there exists at least k + 1 vertices with the same color.

When all the edges of six vertices are colored by two colors, then there exists at least one triangle with the same color.

Department of Mathematics, HKU, 2010