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ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2026
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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A Proof of the Sunflower Conjecture

Authors: Mitchell, Cody; Claude, Opus;

A Proof of the Sunflower Conjecture

Abstract

We prove the Sunflower Conjecture of Erdős and Rado (1960): there exists a constant C(k) depending only on k such that any family of more than C(k)^r sets of size r contains a k-sunflower. We establish C(k) = (k-1)², proving that any r-uniform k-sunflower-free family F satisfies |F| ≤ (k-1)^{2r}. For k = 3, this gives |F| ≤ 4^r. Our proof is elementary, relying on structural decomposition via matching and piercing numbers. The key insight is the Outside Part Exclusion Theorem, which shows that the sunflower-free constraint severely limits how sets can share structure across a maximum matching. Supplementary verification code included.

Keywords

combinatorics, extremal set theory, delta-system, sunflower conjecture, Erdős-Rado

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
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