Odd Party Conjecture: Can You Prove or Disprove?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FaustoMorales
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Conjecture
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a conjecture regarding a group of people with an even number of members, where each individual is connected to others through direct or indirect relationships. The conjecture posits that this group can be divided into subgroups such that each member in a subgroup knows an odd number of people directly within that subgroup. It is noted that if every member already knows an odd number of people, no splitting is necessary. Participants are encouraged to either prove the conjecture or provide a counter-example, with a request for clarification on the conditions of the group. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding the relationships within the group to explore the validity of the conjecture.
FaustoMorales
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Conjecture: Consider any group with an even number of people where each member is connected to any other through some chain of people. Then the original group can be split into groups where each member knows an odd number of people directly.

Note: If the party is such that each member knows an odd number of people to begin with, then the null splitting (no splitting at all) does the job.

Can anyone prove this (or find a counter-example)? Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
I think there needs to be some clarification--

Reworded:

Given: A group exists with a non-zero, even number of people. Each person in the group directly knows at least one other person within the group. Further, each person "knows" each other person in the group, either directly or indirectly (via people they know directly).

Conjecture:The group can be split into 1 or more subgroups wherein each member of a subgroup knows an odd number of people directly within that subgroup.DaveE
 
Last edited:
Thanks DaveE for your reply.

Your clear rephrasing is quite helpful.
 
Last edited:
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...

Similar threads

Back
Top