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FOUR COLOR THEOREM

The four color theorem (or four color map theorem) states that given any plane separated into many regions, the regions may be colored using no more than four colors in such a way that no two adjacent regions have the same color.  This problem dates back to 1852 when Francis Guthrie, while trying to color the map of counties of England noticed that four colors sufficed.  Two regions are called adjacent only if they share a border segment, not just a point.  Each region must be contiguous, such as not containing exclaves.

It can easily be shown that using only three colors is inadequate. This can been seen when one region is surrounded by three other regions (but not with an even number of surrounding regions).

The four color theorem was the first major theorem actually proven using a computer. However, the proof is not accepted by
all mathematicians because the proof is difficult to verify anually. The proof also lack of mathematical elegance. One has to have faith in the accuracy of the software and hardware executing the program used for the proof.

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