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Conjecture

Total Coloring Conjecture

Combinatorics

The total coloring conjecture, attributed independently to Mehdi Behzad and Vadim Vizing between 1964 and 1968, states that the total chromatic number of a graph G, the fewest colors needed to properly color its vertices and edges together, is at most two more than its maximum degree. The conjecture is known to hold for all bipartite graphs and most planar graphs, but remains open in general.

Facts
Statement
For every graph G, the total chromatic number of G is at most the maximum degree of G plus 2. 1
Progress Toward Resolution
The conjecture is known to hold for all bipartite graphs and for most planar graphs. In general the total chromatic number of any graph is known to be at most its maximum degree plus 10 to the 26th power, a bound due to Molloy and Reed in 1998; for graphs of sufficiently large maximum degree this was improved to at most the maximum degree plus 8 times the natural log of the maximum degree raised to the 8th power. The general conjecture remains open. 1
Classification
Resolution Status
Open 1
Prize Status
Prize Status (category)
No Prize Offered 1
Connections

In Branch

Source Total Coloring (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Total Coloring (Wikipedia)
  • Total coloring conjecture section
    χ ″ ( G ) ≤ Δ ( G ) + 2
  • Known upper bounds section
    χ ″ ( G ) ≤ Δ ( G ) + 10^26
  • Lead section
  • In Branch: Graph Theory, Lead sentence
    In graph theory, total coloring is a type of graph coloring on the vertices and edges of a graph.
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