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← problemsGT003openMathematics/ Combinatorics/ Graph theory

The Erdős–Gyárfás conjecture

Maintainer — open

Does every graph with minimum degree three contain a cycle of length a power of two?

Motivation

Erdős and Gyárfás, 1995. Erdős offered 100foraproofand100 for a proof and 50 for a counterexample — his usual signal that he expected it to be true but hard.

Known for graphs with no K₄ minor, and for graphs of large girth. A counterexample would need to avoid cycles of length 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on simultaneously, which is a strong constraint; a proof would need to produce one of infinitely many possible lengths, which is a weak conclusion to have to establish.

Erdős and Gyárfás, 1995.

Lean API
import Conjectura.Defs.Mathematics.Combinatorics.GraphTheory.CycleLength
import Mathlib.Combinatorics.SimpleGraph.Finite

namespace Conjectura.GT003

/-- Every graph with minimum degree at least three contains a cycle whose length is a
power of two. Known for graphs with no `K₄` minor, and for large girth; open in
general. -/
def goal : Prop :=
  ∀ (V : Type) [Fintype V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
    (∀ v : V, 3 ≤ G.degree v) → ∃ k : ℕ, HasCycleLength G (2 ^ k)

end Conjectura.GT003
Definition8
has a cycle of length `k`Conjectura.GraphTheory.HasCycleLength

A graph has a cycle of length k when some closed walk of that length repeats no vertex or edge. Which cycle lengths a graph must contain is the subject of a large family of extremal questions.

def HasCycleLength {V : Type*} (G : SimpleGraph V) (k : ℕ) : Prop :=
  ∃ (v : V) (w : G.Walk v v), w.IsCycle ∧ w.length = k
lengthConjectura.EP0003.length

The length of a subset ss of C\mathbb{C} is defined to be its 1-dimensional Hausdorff measure H1(s)\mathcal{H}^1(s).

noncomputable def length (s : Set ℂ) : ℝ≥0∞ := μH[1] s
FintypeFintype

class

AdjG.Adj

structure

degreeG.degree

def

WalkG.Walk

inductive

IsCyclew.IsCycle

structure

SetSet

abbrev

Related work0
    For your AI
    Download as .md
    I am proving a theorem in Lean 4 and submitting it to Conjectura.
    
    ## Problem GT003 — The Erdős–Gyárfás conjecture
    
    Does every graph with minimum degree three contain a cycle of length a power of two?
    
    ## Environment (fixed — do not assume anything newer)
    
    - Lean toolchain: `leanprover/lean4:v4.33.0-rc1`
    - Mathlib: `v4.33.0-rc1`
    
    If a lemma you want does not exist in that Mathlib, prove it inline instead of
    importing something newer.
    
    ## The exact statement I must prove
    
    ```lean
    theorem solution : ∀ (V : Type) [Fintype V] (G : SimpleGraph V) [DecidableRel G.Adj],
        (∀ v : V, 3 ≤ G.degree v) → ∃ k : ℕ, HasCycleLength G (2 ^ k) := by
      sorry
    ```
    
    ## The file I submit
    
    ```lean
    import Conjectura.Problems.GT003.Statement
    
    namespace Submission
    
    theorem solution : Conjectura.GT003.goal := by
      sorry
    
    end Submission
    
    ```
    
    ## The Lean definitions of every term in this problem
    
    These are the actual definitions your proof will be checked against. Do not
    substitute your own version of any of them.
    
    ### has a cycle of length `k`
    
    A graph has a cycle of length `k` when some closed walk of that length repeats no vertex or edge. Which cycle lengths a graph must contain is the subject of a large family of extremal questions.
    
    ```lean
    Conjectura.GraphTheory.HasCycleLength
    -- unfolds to:
    def HasCycleLength {V : Type*} (G : SimpleGraph V) (k : ℕ) : Prop :=
      ∃ (v : V) (w : G.Walk v v), w.IsCycle ∧ w.length = k
    ```
    Defined in this corpus.
    
    ### length
    
    The length of a subset $s$ of $\mathbb{C}$ is defined to be its 1-dimensional Hausdorff measure $\mathcal{H}^1(s)$.
    
    ```lean
    Conjectura.EP0003.length
    -- unfolds to:
    noncomputable def length (s : Set ℂ) : ℝ≥0∞ := μH[1] s
    ```
    Defined in this corpus.
    
    ### Fintype
    
    class
    
    ```lean
    Fintype
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### Adj
    
    structure
    
    ```lean
    G.Adj
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### degree
    
    def
    
    ```lean
    G.degree
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### Walk
    
    inductive
    
    ```lean
    G.Walk
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### IsCycle
    
    structure
    
    ```lean
    w.IsCycle
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### Set
    
    abbrev
    
    ```lean
    Set
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ## Rules — submissions violating these are rejected automatically
    
    1. **Do not change the name or type of `solution`.** It must satisfy the
       statement above exactly.
    2. **Do not redefine or shadow anything from the problem's Statement module.**
       Declaring your own `goal`, or redefining a name it depends on, produces a
       proof of a *different* statement and is rejected. This is the single most
       common rejection.
    3. **No `sorry`** anywhere, including in helper lemmas. It surfaces as the
       axiom `sorryAx` and is detected transitively through imports.
    4. **No `native_decide`** — it surfaces as `Lean.ofReduceBool` and is not
       accepted, because it trusts compiled code rather than the kernel.
    5. Only these axioms are permitted: `propext`, `Classical.choice`,
       `Quot.sound`.
    6. Follow Mathlib style: hypotheses left of the colon, explicit types,
       `snake_case` theorem names, `UpperCamelCase` types.
    
    ## What I want from you
    
    Here is my argument in informal mathematics:
    
    > [PASTE YOUR PROOF SKETCH HERE]
    
    Turn it into Lean 4 that compiles under the environment above and satisfies the
    statement exactly. Where you are unsure a lemma exists in this Mathlib version,
    say so explicitly rather than guessing a name.

    Submissions are not open yet

    Conjectura is in beta. You can read every statement, every definition and the Lean behind them, and download the exact files the checker uses — but proofs are not being accepted yet.

    The reason is a deliberate order of operations. Accepting a proof means running a stranger’s code and standing behind a verdict, and no statement here yet carries a researcher’s name. A machine-checked answer to a question nobody has vouched for is worth very little, so the vouching comes first.

    The English write-ups are also switched off during the beta. Nothing on this page is generated by a model.

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