Conjectura
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← problemsGT007openMathematics/ Combinatorics/ Graph theory

The graceful tree conjecture

Maintainer — open

Can every tree be labelled so its edge differences are all distinct?

Motivation

Ringel 1963 and Kotzig; the term 'graceful' is Golomb's. Verified for every tree on at most 35 vertices.

It implies Ringel's conjecture on decomposing complete graphs into copies of a tree — which was itself proved in 2020 for large trees by Montgomery, Pokrovskiy and Sudakov, without settling gracefulness.

Ringel 1963; Kotzig. Verified to 35 vertices.

Lean API
import Mathlib.Combinatorics.SimpleGraph.Acyclic

namespace Conjectura.GT007

/-- Ringel and Kotzig, 1963: can the vertices of every tree on `n` vertices be
labelled `0` to `n−1` so that the `n−1` edge differences are exactly `1` through
`n−1`, each once? Verified for all trees on at most 35 vertices. -/
def goal : Prop :=
  ∀ (n : ℕ) (T : SimpleGraph (Fin n)) [DecidableRel T.Adj], T.IsTree →
    ∃ f : Fin n → Fin n, Function.Bijective f ∧
      Function.Bijective (fun e : T.edgeSet =>
        Sym2.lift ⟨fun u v => max (f u : ℕ) (f v) - min (f u : ℕ) (f v),
                   by intro u v; simp [max_comm, min_comm]⟩ (e : Sym2 (Fin n)))

end Conjectura.GT007
Definition6
AdjT.Adj

structure

IsTreeT.IsTree

structure

BijectiveFunction.Bijective

def

edgeSetT.edgeSet

abbrev

liftSym2.lift

def

Sym2Sym2

abbrev

Related work0
    For your AI
    Download as .md
    I am proving a theorem in Lean 4 and submitting it to Conjectura.
    
    ## Problem GT007 — The graceful tree conjecture
    
    Can every tree be labelled so its edge differences are all distinct?
    
    ## 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 : ∀ (n : ℕ) (T : SimpleGraph (Fin n)) [DecidableRel T.Adj], T.IsTree →
        ∃ f : Fin n → Fin n, Function.Bijective f ∧ Function.Bijective (...) := by
      sorry
    ```
    
    ## The file I submit
    
    ```lean
    import Conjectura.Problems.GT007.Statement
    
    namespace Submission
    
    theorem solution : Conjectura.GT007.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.
    
    ### Adj
    
    structure
    
    ```lean
    T.Adj
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### IsTree
    
    structure
    
    ```lean
    T.IsTree
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### Bijective
    
    def
    
    ```lean
    Function.Bijective
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### edgeSet
    
    abbrev
    
    ```lean
    T.edgeSet
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### lift
    
    def
    
    ```lean
    Sym2.lift
    ```
    Defined in Mathlib.
    
    ### Sym2
    
    abbrev
    
    ```lean
    Sym2
    ```
    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.

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

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