Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved - Revised Color Edition (Princeton Science Library)

by Robin Wilson

Ian Stewart (Foreword)

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On October 23, 1852, Professor Augustus De Morgan wrote a letter to a colleague, unaware that he was launching one of the most famous mathematical conundrums in history--one that would confound thousands of puzzlers for more than a century. This is the amazing story of how the "map problem" was solved. The problem posed in the letter came from a former student: What is the least possible number of colors needed to fill in any map (real or invented) so that neighboring counties are always colored differently? This deceptively simple question was of minimal interest to cartographers, who saw...Read more
  • ISBN10 0691158223
  • ISBN13 9780691158228
  • Publish Date 10 November 2013
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Princeton University Press