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Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by IshKebab on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @05:48PM (#16862612)
"This mathematical theory that has been proven is bunk"

Right... Either you're misunderstanding what the theory says or your crazy concentric countries idea doesn't work (hard to tell from your description).

Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by hermitdev on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @06:06PM (#16862731)
Like I said, describing it is hard, but showing it is not See this: https://imgur.com/iU7oc8d There's no way to color that with 4 colors without a color hitting itself. Yes, it's contrived, but so are borders. Also, the 4-color theorem didn't limit itself to established borders, it claims to be for an arbitrary map. This image, is well, arbitrary and drawn up in paint in a few minutes, but it shows the point.
Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by Sniffnoy on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @06:12PM (#16862770)
You're mistaken about that not being 4-colorable. Color the "rings", from outside to inside: red, blue, green, blue, yellow.

Again, as mentioned in my earlier comment, I would suggest thinking of things / describing things in terms of plane graphs rather than "maps". It'll make everything easier.

I might also suggest learning some of the relevant graph theory? It sounds like you're trying and failing to embed a K_5, or perhaps an arbitrary K_n, into the plane. That can't be done, and the proof that this is impossible is much easier than the full 4-color theorem. (There are also the 5-color and 6-color theorems, which again have much easier proofs than the 4-color theorem, and which are another reason you can't embed an arbitrary K_n in the plane.)

Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by guskel on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @06:12PM (#16862766)
Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by kr99x on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @06:11PM (#16862755)
Re:Decades-Old Graph Problem Yields to Amateur Mathematician by benchaney on Tuesday April 17, 2018 @06:12PM (#16862767)
You can do R G B Y B from the inside working out.

The third and fifth rings (counting from the inside) don’t touch each other so, you can give them the same color.