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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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The claim. Every triangle-free graph GG on nn vertices with average degree t≥1t\ge1 satisfies α(G)≥0.01 ntln⁡t\alpha(G)\ge0.01\,\frac nt\ln t: Theorem 2 of M. Ajtai, J. Komlós and E. Szemerédi, A note on Ramsey numbers, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 29 (1980), no. 3, 354--360, printed p. 355, paged at its result page of the source card. The paper's Note says that no attempt is made to find the best constant, and its Remark 2 (p. 357) says the bound is best possible up to the constant for t<n1/3+o(1)t<n^{1/3+o(1)}, by a random graph with the vertices of its triangles deleted. In the letters of Problem 802 this is the displayed bound ≫rlog⁡ttn\gg_r\frac{\log t}tn for r=3r=3, with the constant 0.010.01. The 1981 paper of Ajtai, Erdős, Komlós and Szemerédi, which poses the question for every fixed rr, restates the theorem as its Theorem 1 and calls it best possible up to a constant multiple; Shearer's 1983 note gives a simpler proof with the better constant α≥n(tln⁡t−t+1)/(t−1)2\alpha\ge n(t\ln t-t+1)/(t-1)^2.

Covers. The case r=3r=3 of the question, for every nn and every average degree t≥1t\ge1. Not covered: every r≥4r\ge4, which the question poses separately for each fixed rr and which the accepted full claim on the release's page settles.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki: the proof (pp. 355--357, an induction deleting a vertex and its neighborhood) is the paper's own.

Acceptance. Refereed: Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A, volume 29 (1980), no. 3, 354--360; Crossref dates the issue November 1980, and the page name uses the first day of that month. The site's commentary credits the paper with the case r=3r=3, but the site's label is OPEN so that credit is not listed as reviewed; the site's label concerns the question for r≥4r\ge4. Proof coverage is statement depth with the proof at structure depth.