Erdős Problem a Daythe open tracker

Erdős Problem #602
Property B

OPENdatabase updated 2025-08-31

No proof or disproof is known, and it isn't known whether a finite computation could settle it.

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A set `A ⊆ α` is **monochromatic** under a 2-colouring `f : α → Fin 2` if all elements of `A` receive the same colour.

A family `(A_i)_{i ∈ I}` of subsets of `α` has **Property B** if there exists a 2-colouring `f : α → Fin 2` such that no `A_i` is monochromatic.

Does every almost-disjoint family of countably infinite sets whose pairwise intersections all have size ≠ 1 have Property B? Formally: let `α` be any type, let `(A_i)_{i ∈ I}` be a family of countably infinite subsets of `α` such that for all `i ≠ j`, the intersection `A_i ∩ A_j` is finite and `|A_i ∩ A_j| ≠ 1`. Does there exist a 2-colouring `f : α → Fin 2` such that no `A_i` is monochromatic? This is an open question about Property B for almost-disjoint families with a forbidden intersection size of 1. **Note:** This generalises the formulation in which the ground set is `ℕ`. Since every countably infinite set is in bijection with `ℕ`, the two formulations are equivalent, but working over an arbitrary ground type makes the statement apply immediately to, e.g., almost-disjoint families of countable subsets of an uncountable space.
Statement as formalized in Formal Conjectures (Google DeepMind, Apache-2.0) · their label: research open · 4 further variants / known partial results in the Lean file. The authoritative wording is on erdosproblems.com/602.
Prizenone
Topicscombinatorics, set theory
Statement in LeanFormal Conjectures
Solution in Leanno
Original pageerdosproblems.com/602
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LIVE PAGE status OPEN (accessed 2026-07-28); it lists “1 claimed proof for this problem”—a partial proof claimed by Lezhe Gao, submitted 2026-07-22 with external proof at Zenodo record 21475089—so Ste

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