Four color theorem

High school (ages 12+)
Mathematics & Numbers

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/four-color-theorem

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the mathematical field?Graph Theory, Combinatorics
2. What is the discoverer(s)?Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken (initial proof)
3. Why was it so hard for mathematicians to prove?Even though the idea looks simple, finding a rigorous proof was difficult, and early attempts had mistakes that kept people guessing.
4. How did computers help solve the problem?In 1976, mathematicians used a computer to check thousands of special arrangements of regions, which made the proof possible.

Planar Graph: A graph that can be drawn on a plane such that no two edges cross each other.
Chromatic Number: The minimum number of colors needed to color the vertices of a graph such that no two adjacent vertices share the same color.
Reducible Configuration: A specific arrangement of regions on a map that, if it could be colored with four colors, implies that any map containing it can also be colored with four colors.