Ramsey Theory On The Integers

Ramsey theory is the study of the structure of mathematical objects that is preserved under partitions. In its full generality, Ramsey theory is quite powerful, but can quickly become complicated. By limiting the focus of this book to Ramsey theory applied to the set of integers, the authors have produced a gentle, but meaningful, introduction to an important and enticing branch of modern mathematics. Ramsey Theory on the Integers offers students a glimpse into the world of mathematical research and the opportunity for them to begin pondering unsolved problems. For this new edition, several sections have been added and others have been significantly updated. Among the newly introduced topics are: rainbow Ramsey theory, an "inequality" version of Schur's theorem, monochromatic solutions of recurrence relations, Ramsey results involving both sums and products, monochromatic sets avoiding certain differences, Ramsey properties for polynomial progressions, generalizations of the Erdős-Ginzberg-Ziv theorem, and the number of arithmetic progressions under arbitrary colorings. Many new results and proofs have been added, most of which were not known when the first edition was published. Furthermore, the book's tables, exercises, lists of open research problems, and bibliography have all been significantly updated. This innovative book also provides the first cohesive study of Ramsey theory on the integers. It contains perhaps the most substantial account of solved and unsolved problems in this blossoming subject. This breakthrough book will engage students, teachers, and researchers alike.

Ramsey theory is the study of the structure of mathematical objects that is preserved under partitions. In its full generality, Ramsey theory is quite powerful, but can quickly become complicated. By limiting the focus of this book to Ramsey theory applied to the set of integers, the authors have produced a gentle, but meaningful, introduction to an important and enticing branch of modern mathematics.""Ramsey Theory on the Integers"" offers students something quite rare for a book at this level: a glimpse into the world of mathematical research and the opportunity for them to begin pondering unsolved problems. In addition to being the first truly accessible book on Ramsey theory, this innovative book also provides the first cohesive study of Ramsey theory on the integers. It contains perhaps the most substantial account of solved and unsolved problems in this blossoming subarea of Ramsey theory. The result is a breakthrough book that will engage students, teachers, and researchers alike.

Ramsey theory is a fascinating topic. The author shares his view of the topic in this contemporary overview of Ramsey theory. He presents from several points of view, adding intuition and detailed proofs, in an accessible manner unique among most books on the topic. This book covers all of the main results in Ramsey theory along with results that have not appeared in a book before. The presentation is comprehensive and reader friendly. The book covers integer, graph, and Euclidean Ramsey theory with many proofs being combinatorial in nature. The author motivates topics and discussion, rather than just a list of theorems and proofs. In order to engage the reader, each chapter has a section of exercises. This up-to-date book introduces the field of Ramsey theory from several different viewpoints so that the reader can decide which flavor of Ramsey theory best suits them. Additionally, the book offers: A chapter providing different approaches to Ramsey theory, e.g., using topological dynamics, ergodic systems, and algebra in the Stone-Čech compactification of the integers. A chapter on the probabilistic method since it is quite central to Ramsey-type numbers. A unique chapter presenting some applications of Ramsey theory. Exercises in every chapter The intended audience consists of students and mathematicians desiring to learn about Ramsey theory. An undergraduate degree in mathematics (or its equivalent for advanced undergraduates) and a combinatorics course is assumed. TABLE OF CONENTS Preface List of Figures List of Tables Symbols 1. Introduction 2. Integer Ramsey Theory 3. Graph Ramsey Theory 4. Euclidean Ramsey Theory 5. Other Approaches to Ramsey Theory 6. The Probabilistic Method 7. Applications Bibliography Index Biography Aaron Robertson received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Temple University under the guidance of his advisor Doron Zeilberger. Upon finishing his Ph.D. he started at Colgate University in upstate New York where he is currently Professor of Mathematics. He also serves as Associate Managing editor of the journal Integers. After a brief detour into the world of permutation patterns, he has focused most of his research on Ramsey theory.

It is no exaggeration to say that over the past several decades there has been a veritable explosion of activity in the general field of combinatorics. Ramsey theory, in particular, has shown remarkable growth. This book gives a picture of the state of the art of Ramsey theory at the time of Graham's CBMS lectures. In keeping with the style of the lectures, the exposition is informal. However, complete proofs are given for most of the basic results presented. In addition, many useful results may be found in the exercises and problems. Loosely speaking, Ramsey theory is the branch of combinatorics that deals with structures that are preserved under partitions. Typically, one looks at the following kind of question: If a particular structure (e.g., algebraic, combinatorial or geometric) is arbitrarily partitioned into finitely many classes, what kinds of substructures must always remain intact in at least one of the classes? At the time of these lectures, a number of spectacular advances had been made in the field of Ramsey theory. These include: the work of Szemeredi and Furstenberg settling the venerable conjecture of Erdos and Turan, the Nesetril-Rodl theorems on induced Ramsey properties, the results of Paris and Harrington on ``large'' Ramsey numbers and undecidability in first-order Peano arithmetic, Deuber's solution to the old partition regularity conjecture of Rado, Hindman's surprising generalization of Schur's theorem, and the resolution of Rota's conjecture on Ramsey's theorem for vector spaces by Graham, Leeb and Rothschild. It has also become apparent that the ideas and techniques of Ramsey theory span a rather broad range of mathematical areas, interacting in essential ways with parts of set theory, graph theory, combinatorial number theory, probability theory, analysis and even theoretical computer science. These lecture notes lay out the foundation on which much of this work is based. Relatively little specialized mathematical background is required for this book. It should be accessible to upper division students.

This book takes the reader on a journey through Ramsey theory, from graph theory and combinatorics to set theory to logic and metamathematics. Written in an informal style with few requisites, it develops two basic principles of Ramsey theory: many combinatorial properties persist under partitions, but to witness this persistence, one has to start with very large objects. The interplay between those two principles not only produces beautiful theorems but also touches the very foundations of mathematics. In the course of this book, the reader will learn about both aspects. Among the topics explored are Ramsey's theorem for graphs and hypergraphs, van der Waerden's theorem on arithmetic progressions, infinite ordinals and cardinals, fast growing functions, logic and provability, Gödel incompleteness, and the Paris-Harrington theorem. Quoting from the book, “There seems to be a murky abyss lurking at the bottom of mathematics. While in many ways we cannot hope to reach solid ground, mathematicians have built impressive ladders that let us explore the depths of this abyss and marvel at the limits and at the power of mathematical reasoning at the same time. Ramsey theory is one of those ladders.”

In every sufficiently large structure which has been partitioned there will always be some well-behaved structure in one of the parts. This takes many forms. For example, colorings of the integers by finitely many colors must have long monochromatic arithmetic progressions (van der Waerden's theorem); and colorings of the edges of large graphs must have monochromatic subgraphs of a specified type (Ramsey's theorem). This book explores many of the basic results and variations of this theory. Since the first edition of this book there have been many advances in this field. In the second edition the authors update the exposition to reflect the current state of the art. They also include many pointers to modern results. A co-publication of the AMS and CBMS.

Praise for the First Edition "Anyone interested in getting an introduction to Ramsey theorywill find this illuminating..." --MAA Reviews Covering all the major concepts, proofs, and theorems, theSecond Edition of Ramsey Theory is the ultimate guideto understanding every aspect of Shelah's proof, as well asthe original proof of van der Waerden. The book offers a historicalperspective of Ramsey's fundamental paper from 1930 andErdos' and Szekeres' article from 1935, while placingthe various theorems in the context of T. S. Motzkin'sthought on the subject of "Complete Disorder isImpossible." Ramsey Theory, Second Edition includes new and excitingcoverage of Graph Ramsey Theory and Euclidean Ramsey Theory andalso relates Ramsey Theory to other areas in discrete mathematics.In addition, the book features the unprovability results of Parisand Harrington and the methods from topological dynamics pioneeredby Furstenburg. Featuring worked proofs and outside applications, RamseyTheory, Second Edition addresses: * Ramsey and density theorems on both broad and meticulousscales * Extentions and implications of van der Waerden's Theorem,the Hales-Jewett Theorem, Roth's Theorem, Rado'sTheorem, Szemeredi's Theorem, and the Shelah Proof * Regular homogeneous and nonhomogeneous systems andequations * Special cases and broader interdisciplinary applications ofRamsey Theory principles An invaluable reference for professional mathematicians workingin discrete mathematics, combinatorics, and algorithms, RamseyTheory, Second Edition is the definitive work on thesubject.