Talk:Folkman graph

Jon Folkman

A short article on Jon Folkman might be useful. Besides this graph, Folkman contributed fundamental theorems on oriented matroids, sumsets (Shapley–Folkman theorem lemma, which could use an article), Ramsey theory, etc. Also, Folkman's brain-cancer and bed-side visit by Paul Erdös and subsequent suicide are discussed in Erdös's award-winning biography, which was based on a c. 1987 Atlantic Monthly article:

• Hoffman, Paul (1998). The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth. London: Fourth Estate Ltd. ISBN 1-85702-811-2.

Thanks! Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 20:02, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

I added an article on the Shapley–Folkman theorem. I'm sure it could use improvement. —David Eppstein (talk) 22:59, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Fantastic! The Shapley–Folkman lemma is my favorite theorem lemma. (Sorry for writing theorem before!) Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 23:08, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Is the lemma something different? Google finds only about 80 hits for it compared to some 2000 for the theorem. —David Eppstein (talk) 23:19, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the SF theorem is the metric result (which Starr refined). The SF lemma is the combinatorial result. All lot of us are sloppy with this distinction, and happily no fatalities have resulted, yet! (However, I wanted to correct the title while it was easy.) Thanks, Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 23:24, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

I also added a (shorter) article on Folkman. —David Eppstein (talk) 00:41, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

This was a very beautiful start of an article. Folkman's death seems even to me tragic, and must have been even more terrible for his colleagues. Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 01:54, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Acknowledgment of David Eppstein

Thanks again to editor David Eppstein for his tremendous contributions to all things Folkmanesque on Wikipedia, the last 2 weeks, including

• updates to the Folkman graph (with two new graphics, which illustrate its chromatic number and Hamiltonian property),
• three new articles on

1. Jon Folkman and
2. the Shapley–Folkman lemma (with the best illustration of this lemma in world literature) and even on
3. Folkman's theorem.

Thousands of Wikipedia readers have viewed these articles in the last days. Well done, David! Sincerely, Kiefer.Wolfowitz (talk) 22:39, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! —David Eppstein (talk) 23:04, 29 October 2010 (UTC)