Erds on Graphs: His Legacy of Unsolved Problems

by Fan Chung, Ron Graham

This book is a tribute to Paul Erd\H{o}s, the wandering mathematician once described as the "prince of problem solvers and the absolute monarch of problem posers." It examines -- within the context of his unique personality and lifestyle -- the legacy of open problems he left to the world after his death in 1996. Unwilling to succumb to the temptations of money and position, Erd\H{o}s never had a home and never held a job. His "home" was a bag or two containing all his belongings and a record of the collective activities of the mathematical community. His "job" was one at which he excelled: identifying a fundamental roadblock in some particular line of approach and capturing it in a well-chosen, often innocent-looking problem, whose solution would likewise provide insight into the underlying theory. By cataloguing the unsolved problems of Erd\H{o}s in a comprehensive and well-documented volume, the authors hope to continue the work of an unusual and special man who fundamentally influenced the field of mathematics.

Genres: Mathematics

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science (Akamai Professor in Internet Mathematics) at the University of California San Diego.

Also credited as "Fan R.K. Chung" and "Fan Chung Graham".

Reviews

[Alecsphys · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book for mathematicians, full of open problems posed by Erdos. I brought it just to see with which topics Erdos challenged himself and the entire mathematical community. And by the way, I was happy to learn a bit about Ramsey theory, discover the really beautiful Lovasz local lemma, and be intrigued of the theorem of penta chords and its demonstration by projective geometry.