How to colour the US map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue to minimize the number of states with the colour of...












7












$begingroup$


I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.



Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.



My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.



Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).






graph-theory recreational-mathematics







share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
    $endgroup$
    – Bor Kari
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – YuiTo Cheng
    16 mins ago
















7












$begingroup$


I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.



Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.



My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.



Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).






graph-theory recreational-mathematics







share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
    $endgroup$
    – Bor Kari
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – YuiTo Cheng
    16 mins ago














7












7








7


2



$begingroup$


I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.



Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.



My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.



Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).






graph-theory recreational-mathematics







share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




I want to colour the US (only the states) map with Yellow, Green, Red and Blue. I was wondering what would be the lowest number of states with the colour of Green. We can of course use the other colours as much as we want. Please note that I want to follow the Four Color Theorem rules.



Motivation:
I am studying graph theory and I want to know if there is a way that we could limit the use of the fourth colour as much as possible. This is not a homework problem.



My attempt:
I have tried many variations and can limit it to 6 and it seems like the
minimum possible but there are infinite possibilities to try so I was wondering if there is a simpler method? Thank you in advance.



Clarification:
I am interested in only the mainland of USA. For states like Michigan that are split, I used the same colour for both parts (since they were not connected directly).






graph-theory recreational-mathematics




graph-theory recreational-mathematics






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













share|cite|improve this question




share|cite|improve this question








edited 17 mins ago









YuiTo Cheng

2,40641037




2,40641037










asked 2 hours ago









Bor KariBor Kari

3749




3749








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
    $endgroup$
    – Bor Kari
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – YuiTo Cheng
    16 mins ago














  • 1




    $begingroup$
    you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    $begingroup$
    blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    2 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
    $endgroup$
    – Bor Kari
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
    $endgroup$
    – YuiTo Cheng
    16 mins ago








1




1




$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago




$begingroup$
you would need to agree on a favorite version of the graph. In the actual US, there are islands, states split into disconnected regions, other things forbidden
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago




1




1




$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago




$begingroup$
blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2006/05/… They correctly point out that three colors cannot work, as Nevada has an odd number of neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
2 hours ago












$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
1 hour ago




$begingroup$
thank you for your suggestion, I made a few clarifications.
$endgroup$
– Bor Kari
1 hour ago












$begingroup$
I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
$endgroup$
– YuiTo Cheng
16 mins ago




$begingroup$
I've edited your title to make it more specific and informative. Please check if it is correct.
$endgroup$
– YuiTo Cheng
16 mins ago










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















5












$begingroup$

The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.



But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:



enter image description here



Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    @WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
    $endgroup$
    – Misha Lavrov
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
    $endgroup$
    – antkam
    48 mins ago












Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "69"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3186983%2fhow-to-colour-the-us-map-with-yellow-green-red-and-blue-to-minimize-the-number%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes









5












$begingroup$

The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.



But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:



enter image description here



Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    @WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
    $endgroup$
    – Misha Lavrov
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
    $endgroup$
    – antkam
    48 mins ago
















5












$begingroup$

The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.



But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:



enter image description here



Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    @WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
    $endgroup$
    – Misha Lavrov
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
    $endgroup$
    – antkam
    48 mins ago














5












5








5





$begingroup$

The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.



But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:



enter image description here



Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$



The minimum is two states that use the fourth color. Nevada and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors, and similarly West Virginia and its five neighbors cannot be colored with only three colors.



But if we color Arizona and Ohio a color we use nowhere else, then the remainder of the map can be completed using only three colors:



enter image description here



Adjacencies between the states may be easier to see here.







share|cite|improve this answer














share|cite|improve this answer



share|cite|improve this answer








edited 1 hour ago

























answered 1 hour ago









Misha LavrovMisha Lavrov

49.3k757108




49.3k757108












  • $begingroup$
    I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    @WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
    $endgroup$
    – Misha Lavrov
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
    $endgroup$
    – antkam
    48 mins ago


















  • $begingroup$
    I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    @WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
    $endgroup$
    – Misha Lavrov
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
    $endgroup$
    – Will Jagy
    1 hour ago










  • $begingroup$
    just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
    $endgroup$
    – antkam
    48 mins ago
















$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago




$begingroup$
I need a better atlas. I'm looking at the Philadelphia area, I cannot tell what happens among Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland.
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago












$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago




$begingroup$
@WillJagy The reference I actually used to color the US was this picture of the US graph, which solves this problem.
$endgroup$
– Misha Lavrov
1 hour ago












$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago




$begingroup$
That's pretty good. A simple standard: at least one drivable road between neighbors
$endgroup$
– Will Jagy
1 hour ago












$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
48 mins ago




$begingroup$
just curious -- did you write code to do this, or did you do this by hand?
$endgroup$
– antkam
48 mins ago


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Mathematics Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmath.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f3186983%2fhow-to-colour-the-us-map-with-yellow-green-red-and-blue-to-minimize-the-number%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







-

Popular posts from this blog

Liste der Baudenkmale in Friedland (Mecklenburg)

Image
In der Liste der Baudenkmale in Friedland sind alle denkmalgeschützten Bauten der Stadt Friedland (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) und ihrer Ortsteile aufgelistet. Grundlage ist die Veröffentlichung der Denkmalliste des Landkreises Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (Auszug) vom 28. September 2016. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Baudenkmale nach Ortsteilen 1.1 Friedland 1.2 Bresewitz 1.3 Brohm 1.4 Cosa 1.5 Dishley 1.6 Dishley-Ausbau 1.7 Eichhorst 1.8 Glienke 1.9 Heinrichshöh 1.10 Heinrichswalde 1.11 Jatzke 1.12 Jatzke-Meierei 1.13 Liepen 1.14 Ramelow 1.15 Schwanbeck 2 Vorgesehener Denkmalbereich 3 Quelle 4 Weblinks Baudenkmale nach Ortsteilen | Friedland | ID Lage Bezeichnung Beschreibung Bild 281 An der Kleinbahn 2 Windmühle mit Umgang 282 Anklamer Straße alter Friedhof mit Portalwand 282 Anklamer Straße drei Erbbegräbnissen und Gräbern u. a. H.A. Riemann 284
Read more

Single-Malt-Whisky

Image
Fünf verschiedene schottische Single-Malt-Whiskys Als Single-Malt-Whisky oder kürzer Single Malt werden Whiskys bezeichnet, die zwei besondere Bedingungen erfüllen: Sie stammen zum ersten aus einer einzigen Brennerei, sind also kein Verschnitt aus mehreren Whiskysorten (daher Single , deutsch: einzeln). Zum zweiten wird als Getreide ausschließlich gemälzte Gerste verwendet (deswegen Malt , deutsch: Malz). Der Zusatz Single Malt wird als Prädikat verstanden, die so ausgezeichneten Whiskys sind in aller Regel besonders hochwertig. Hinzu kommt ihre besonders lange Lagerung, die Reifungszeit währt oft ein Jahrzehnt und länger. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Allgemeines 2 Herkunftsländer 2.1 Schottland 2.2 Irland 2.3 Japan 2.4 Kontinentaleuropa 3 Produktionsschritte 3.1 Mälzen 3.2 Brauen 3.3 Brennen 3.4 Reifung und Finish 3.5 Abfüllung 4 Altersangaben 5 Lagerung von Whiskyflaschen 6 Geschmacksklassifikation 7 Sonstig
Read more

Czorneboh

Image
Dieser Artikel erläutert den Berg Czorneboh, für die Gottheit siehe Czorneboh (Gottheit). Czorneboh Čornobóh Berggasthof mit Turm Höhe 555,7  m ü. NHN [1] Lage Freistaat Sachsen, Deutschland Gebirge Lausitzer Bergland Dominanz 15,4 km →  Kottmar Koordinaten 51° 7′ 11″  N , 14° 31′ 31″  O 51.119722222222 14.525194444444 555.7 Koordinaten: 51° 7′ 11″  N , 14° 31′ 31″  O Gestein Granodiorit Besonderheiten Aussichtsturm Czorneboh Der Czorneboh , obersorbisch Čornobóh , ist ein Berg zwischen Hochkirch und Cunewalde in der Oberlausitz. Er gehört zu der südöstlich von Bautzen gelegenen Czorneboh-Bergkette und ist mit einer Höhe von 555,7  m ü. NHN [1] der höchste Punkt dieses Ausläufers des Lausitzer Berglandes. Er leitet als Landschaftselement die wellige Granitlandschaft der Lausitzer Vorbergzone ein. Der Gipfel des Czorneboh liegt in der Gemarkung Meschwitz (Gemeinde Hochkirch), die Czornebohbaude jedoch
Read more