Tag · 3 problems · 2 fields

Open problems tagged counterexample

3 problems in the Math Lab index touch counterexample, spanning Graph Theory, Geometry & Packing. Each carries a precise statement, an honest status, and a computational line of attack.

Goemans' unsplittable-flow cost conjectureGraph Theorysolved

Given a single-source fractional flow x meeting demands d_i (D = max_i d_i), is there always an unsplittable routing y that is simultaneously congestion-good (y_a ≤ x_a + D on every arc) and cost-good (cᵀy ≤ cᵀx for every nonnegative cost c)? The congestion half alone is the proven Dinitz–Garg–Goemans theorem (1999); the simultaneous cost strengthening is Goemans' conjecture (Conjecture 1.3 in the SSUF literature).

a.k.a. Dinitz–Garg–Goemans cost conjecture · single-source unsplittable flow cost conjecture · SSUF cost conjecture
Graffiti conjecture 284Graph Theorysolved

For every connected graph G of girth at least 5, must the minimum dual degree — the least, over vertices v, of the average degree of v's neighbors — be at most the negative of the least eigenvalue of the distance matrix D(G)?

a.k.a. dual degree versus least distance eigenvalue
Borsuk's problem in low dimensionsGeometry & Packinguntouched

Can every bounded set of diameter 1 in R^d be partitioned into d + 1 pieces of strictly smaller diameter?