Four Colors Suffice
How the Map Problem Was Solved
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The four-colour problem was one of the most famous and controversial conundrums ever known, and stumped thousands of puzzlers for over a century. It sounded simple: what is the least number of colours needed to fill in any map, so that neighbouring countries are always coloured differently? However, it would take over a hundred years for amateur problem - solvers and mathematicians alike to answer the question first posed by Francis Guthrie in 1852. And, even when a solution was finally found using computers, debate raged over whether this technology could ever provide the proof that traditional pen - and - paper calculations could. This is the gripping story of the race to solve the riddle - a tale of dedicated puzzlers, mind-boggling maps, human ingenuity and the great rhombicuboctahedron...
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Four Colors Suffice, Robin J. Wilson
- Language
- Released
- 2003
- Binding
- (Paperback),
- Book condition
- Good
- Price
- €9.39
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- Title
- Four Colors Suffice
- Subtitle
- How the Map Problem Was Solved
- Language
- English
- Authors
- Robin J. Wilson
- Publisher
- Penguin Books
- Released
- 2003
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 262
- ISBN10
- 014100908X
- ISBN13
- 9780141009087
- Series
- Tags
- Science, Cartography, Microhistory
- Description
- The four-colour problem was one of the most famous and controversial conundrums ever known, and stumped thousands of puzzlers for over a century. It sounded simple: what is the least number of colours needed to fill in any map, so that neighbouring countries are always coloured differently? However, it would take over a hundred years for amateur problem - solvers and mathematicians alike to answer the question first posed by Francis Guthrie in 1852. And, even when a solution was finally found using computers, debate raged over whether this technology could ever provide the proof that traditional pen - and - paper calculations could. This is the gripping story of the race to solve the riddle - a tale of dedicated puzzlers, mind-boggling maps, human ingenuity and the great rhombicuboctahedron...