close
Dual View Random Solved Random Open
OPEN This is open, and cannot be resolved with a finite computation.
Is there a function $f(n)$ and a $k$ such that in any $k$-colouring of the integers there exists a sequence $a_1<\cdots$ such that $a_n<f(n)$ for infinitely many $n$ and the set\[\left\{ \sum_{i\in S}a_i : \textrm{finite }S\right\}\]does not contain all colours?
The open status of this problem reflects the current belief of the owner of this website. There may be literature on this problem that I am unaware of, which may partially or completely solve the stated problem. Please do your own literature search before expending significant effort on solving this problem. If you find any relevant literature not mentioned here, please add this in a comment.
Comment activity that has not yet been incorporated into the remarks
There are no solutions, partial or complete, claimed in the comments.
Erdős initially asked whether this is possible with the set being monochromatic, but Galvin showed that this is not always possible, considering the two colouring where, writing $n=2^km$ with $m$ odd, we colour $n$ red if $m\geq F(k)$ and blue if $m<F(k)$ (for some sufficiently quickly growing $F$).

In other words, the answer to this question is no when $k=2$. The original question is open even in the case of $\aleph_0$-many colours.

This is asked by Erdős and Galvin in [ErGa91], where they note that they do not even know whether this is possible with $k=3$. In [ErGa91] they do prove that, for all $k\geq 2$, in any $k$-colouring of the integers there is a sequence such that $a_n<2^{2^{O(n)}}$ for all $n$ and\[\left\{ \sum_{i\in I}a_i : \textrm{finite intervals } I\right\}\]is coloured with only two colours.

This is asking about a variant of Hindman's theorem (see [532]).

View the LaTeX source

This page was last edited 10 April 2026. View history

External data from the database - you can help update this
Formalised statement? No (Create a formalisation here)
Likes this problem Dogmachine
Interested in collaborating None
Currently working on this problem None
This problem looks difficult None
This problem looks tractable None
The results on this problem could be formalisable None
I am working on formalising the results on this problem None

Additional thanks to: LouisD and Zach Hunter

When referring to this problem, please use the original sources of Erdős. If you wish to acknowledge this website, the recommended citation format is:

T. F. Bloom, Erdős Problem #948, https://www.erdosproblems.com/948, accessed 2026-05-21
Order by oldest first or newest first. (The most recent comments are highlighted in a red border.)
  • This problem is also mentioned as Problem 4.2 in "Some Ramsey-type theorems" by Erdos and Galvin (1991). (However, the version for $\aleph_0$ - many colors is not mentioned as it is in the earlier problem paper.) The main reason I mention this is that the Galvin example is explicitly described in Theorem 4.1 and this might help clear up some of the discussion in the comments.

    (The site has been updated to address this comment.)
  • Since Galvin excluded the cases of a $2$-colouring, I will explain that construction.

    Assume such a sequence exists which is monochromatic.
    $\textbf{red}$
    There is a large $n$, such that $n>k_0 2^{k_0}$ with $F(k_0)>2^{k_0}f(n)$,
    and all sumsets formed with $a_1, a_2 , \ldots, a_n$ (which are bounded by $f(n)$) are red.
    By definition of the colouring, and the above choice, the pigeon hole principle says that there is a valuation $k< k_0$ such that at least $2^{k_0}$ values $a_i$ ($i \le n$) have $2$-adic valuation $k$.
    Then (again by the pigeon hole principle) there are some (and we need no more than $2^{k_0}$ of them) of the $a_i$ who sum to a multiple of $2^{k+k_0}$.
    Now $\sum a_i <2^{k_0} f(n)<F(k_0)<F( v_2( \sum a_i) ),$
    and thus it was coloured blue, leading to a contradiction with being monochromatic.

    $\textbf{blue}$
    Since $k=v_2(a_1)$ is fixed, it is bounded.
    Now for $n>2^{k+1}F(k)$, either there are half of $a_1$ up to $a_n$ with $2$-adic valuation bounded by $k$, or half of them above $k$.
    In both cases, we can take a subset of them (with at least $(n-1)/2$ elements) whose sum $\sum a_i$ has $2$-adic valuation bounded by $k$.
    But that sum is coloured red, leading to a contradiction.

    • (post to save time on failed attempt)
      Two natural extensions of Galvin do not work already for $3$ colours;
      *having multiple function $F_1,F_2$ (suff. quick growing) such that the size of the odd part (as function of $v_2$) determines the colour.
      [one can ensure that the odd part is either small or big, but never medium]
      *partitioning red (or blue) numbers depending on parity of $v_2$ into two colours
      [by taking numbers with different $v_2$, one is free to avoid one of the two colours]

  • the sequence $a_1,\dots,a_n$ is not supposed to be allowed to depend on $n$.

    (The site has been updated to address this comment.)
    • also the counterexample seems over complicated to me. can't we simply color all $m>f(1)$ red, and $m\le f(1)$ blue? and for the multicolor version, why can't we have $m\le f(1)$ color one, $m\in (f(1),\sum_{i=1}^{f(1)} f(i)]$ color 2, and so on, so that all sufficiently large $n$ hit every color?

      • I'm not sure what you mean by not supposed to depend on $n$ - in [Er77c] Erdős certainly writes $a_1<\cdots <a_n$, so I interpreted that as choosing $n$ elements from $[1,f(n)]$. (He earlier discusses another question of his which fixes a single infinite sequence $a_i$ independent of $n$, for which Galvin's construction was originally introduced, but this problem is slightly different).

        Regarding your colouring, we could take $A$ to be any subset of $[f(1),f(n)]$, so all subset sums are red, which works provided $f(n)-f(1)\geq n$ (but I assume you're talking about a different problem here, taking your first comment into account).

        • if the sequence can depend on $n$, then this should just be true by Folkman's Theorem (subset sums are partition regular).

          • Doh, of course. So on a third reading you're right, the sequence shouldn't depend on $n$ (my brain had inserted a $<$ where one didn't exist somehow).

            So I think the revised problem is 'Is there an $f(n)$ and integer $k$ such that in any $k$-colouring there is a sequence $a_1<a_2<\cdots$ such that $a_n<f(n)$ for infinitely many $n$ and the set $\sum_{i\in S}a_i$ (as $S$ ranges over all finite sets) does not contain all colours?'

            So your simple example still doesn't work (we only need $a_n<f(n)$ infinitely often).

            • Erdos wrote there are two potential versions to extend the initial question. In the first interpretation, he also adds a weaker statement for $\aleph_0$ with almost disjoint sets, but if the interpretation is as above, the latter should be a stronger variant, isn't it?

              It may be those are indeed just directions of what would be a potential good question, without Erdos knowing yet what would be.

            • I think Galvin's construction is mistated. you want to infinitely flip flop between red and blue.

              • Note that it flips infinitely often, since the colouring depends on the $2$-adic valuation of the number.
                I have given the explanation why the colouring works below.

            • We want $f: \mathbb Z^+ \to \mathbb Z^+$ and $k \ge 3$ such that there is an infinite sequence with $a_n<f(n)$ infinitely often.
              For fixed $f$, this implies that Folkman's theorem does not work due to the additional restriction already for length $n$, and the infinite sequence is not implied either.

All comments are the responsibility of the user. Comments appearing on this page are not verified for correctness. Please keep posts mathematical and on topic.

Log in to add a comment.

Back to the forum