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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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Claim. P. Erdős, On a problem in graph theory, Math. Gaz. 47 (1963), no. 361, 220--223, DOI 10.2307/3613396 (issued October 1963, the nominal first day of which is this page's date). Writing f(k)f(k) for the least order of a tournament in which every kk vertices have a common dominator (Schütte's property SkS_k), the paper proves on p. 221 (inequality (1) and inequalities (2) and (2.1)) that f(1)=3f(1)=3 and f(2)=7f(2)=7, that f(k)≥2k+1−1f(k)\ge2^{k+1}-1 for every k≥1k\ge1 (1), and that lim sup⁡kf(k)2−kk−2≤log⁡2\limsup_kf(k)2^{-k}k^{-2}\le\log2 (2), that is, for every ε>0\varepsilon>0 there is KεK_\varepsilon with f(k)≤2kk2log⁡(2+ε)f(k)\le2^kk^2\log(2+\varepsilon) for k>Kεk>K_\varepsilon (2.1). The upper bound comes from a first-moment count over all orientations of the complete graph, which also proves that f(k)f(k) exists for every kk (p. 223). The paper guesses that f(k)=2k+1−1f(k)=2^{k+1}-1 may hold for all kk; the Szekeres--Szekeres bound refutes that guess for every k≥3k\ge3. The claim value is proved: the result proves values and bounds of ff without determining its order of magnitude.

Covers. The values f(1)=3f(1)=3 and f(2)=7f(2)=7, the existence of f(k)f(k), the lower bound 2k+1−12^{k+1}-1 and the upper bound 2kk2log⁡(2+ε)2^kk^2\log(2+\varepsilon) for large kk; not the order of magnitude, which the problem asks to estimate.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki.

Acceptance. Refereed: published in The Mathematical Gazette, cited with its venue above. The site credits Erdős with 2n+1−1≤f(n)≪n22n2^{n+1}-1\le f(n)\ll n^22^n in commentary on a problem it labels OPEN, which is not acceptance, so reviewed is not listed.

Formalization. The repository jaredwilder/erdos902 (README author Jared Wilder), linked above at its commit of 18 September 2026, contains files that present themselves as formalizations of three results of this paper: Erdos902ClosedForm.lean, the lower bound f(n)≥2n+1−1f(n)\ge2^{n+1}-1; Erdos902Control.lean, the values f(1)=3f(1)=3 and f(2)=7f(2)=7 checked by kernel evaluation; and Erdos902Existence.lean, the first-moment existence bound, in the weaker form f(n)≤n+3n2⋅2nf(n)\le n+3n^2\cdot2^n. This project has not built or audited the repository, so no formalized evidence is listed.