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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. For every n≥3n\ge3, a graph with nn vertices and 2n−22n-2 edges contains a cycle and a further vertex adjacent to three vertices of the cycle, which answers the corrected Statement of Problem 916, the question for every n≥4n\ge4, in the affirmative. The claimed result is the Theorem (p. 212) of C. Thomassen, A minimal condition implying a special K4K_4-subdivision in a graph, Arch. Math. (Basel) 25 (1974), no. 1, 210--215: a graph GG with n(G)≥3n(G)\ge3 vertices and e(G)≥2n(G)−3e(G)\ge2n(G)-3 edges either has property pp, a cycle and a vertex not on it joined to at least three of its vertices (p. 211), or is a (K3,K3,3)(K_3,K_{3,3})-cockade; in particular e(G)≥2n(G)−2e(G)\ge2n(G)-2 forces property pp. The paper states Erdős's 1967 suggestion as its purpose (p. 210) and proves it; since property pp survives adding edges, "at least 2n−22n-2 edges" and the site's "2n−22n-2 edges" ask the same question. The theorem also makes the value 2n−22n-2 exact: the cockades have 2n−32n-3 edges and lack the configuration (Lemma 2, p. 211), and Dirac's graphs with 2n−32n-3 edges have no subdivision of K4K_4 at all. The Corollary (p. 215) reproves Dirac's theorem of 1960, which the question strengthens.

Depends on. Nothing in this wiki; the argument is self-contained.

Acceptance. Refereed: Archiv der Mathematik (Crossref record accessed: volume 25, issue 1, pp. 210--215, issued December 1974; the day is the issue's nominal first day, used for this page's date). Reviewed: the site's curator (T. F. Bloom), independent of the author, labels the problem proved and names this paper as the proof, and Carmesin restates the theorem, without a range for nn, in a refereed and open-access paper (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 161 (2023), p. 22, paged at related_results_p22). The source has a library source card. Read depth: the Introduction, the definition of property pp, Lemma 2, the Theorem and the Corollary; the proof (pp. 212--215, an induction on nn) read for structure only, with no step checked. The acceptance recorded here rests on the publication, the restatement and the site's acceptance, not on a local review.

Formalization. The file src/latest/ErdosProblems/Erdos916.lean of Alexeev's repository plby/lean-proofs, linked above at the repository's head of 15 September 2026 and known here by its header and main theorem only, declares itself a Lean formalization of this paper's result, naming Carsten Thomassen as its informal author and the AI systems Codex and GPT-5.6 Sol as its formal authors. Its theorem erdos_916 takes a finite simple graph on at least four vertices with exactly 2n−22n-2 edges and concludes a cycle with a further vertex adjacent to three of its vertices (HasWheelWitness), the problem's corrected Statement with the four-vertex floor the site's wording lacks; the main file carries no #print axioms line, and its 63 imported modules are not examined here. The site does not cite it, and nothing was built, replayed or audited here, so the page lists no formalized evidence.