AI agents derive a conditional bound of 1801 for the sixth Schur number

Conditional on R₄(3)≤61, the sixth Schur number satisfies S(6)≤1801; the general Ramsey-to-Schur bound and the stated frontier restrictions are proved with the Ramsey assertion left as an explicit premise.

Sources for this record

What was already known

The source gives published upper bounds R₄(3)≤62 and S(6)≤1836. The stronger R₄(3)≤61 is a separate computer-assisted claim by M. Tatarevic and is not proved in this repository.

AI involvement AI-led

Adam McKenna directed the project. The README explicitly credits ChatGPT agents with first proposing the centred bound and frontier arguments, and Claude with checking the steps and writing the Lean proofs.

The pinned README credits ChatGPT agents with first proposing the centred-bound and frontier arguments, while Claude checked and formalized them under Adam McKenna’s direction.

Importance Modest

Derives a sharper conditional Schur bound and constraints on a hypothetical extremal colouring from a general Ramsey-to-Schur inequality.

Limitations

This is a conditional theorem: the Lean code takes R₄(3)≤61 as a hypothesis and does not establish it, nor does it prove S(6)≤1800 or exclude a colouring at 1801. The author says the centred-bound method may be older; full texts of two potentially relevant earlier works were not reviewed, so novelty of that general method is unresolved. Separate LRAT checks of Tatarevic’s SAT instances do not import the Ramsey hypothesis into this Lean theorem. No human peer review is reported.

Technical verification Formal (Lean + comparator)

The source reports all 14 compared theorems proved with standard Lean axioms and CI Comparator checks. The claim assessed here is conditional; the R₄(3)≤61 premise is not proved or imported by this repository.

Formal checking

The source reports all 14 selected theorem proofs use only standard Lean axioms, with CI Comparator statement checking; the R₄(3)≤61 premise remains an explicit Lean argument.

Checker
Lean 4 kernel and documented comparator/certificate checks run by the repository authors
Scope
If every four-colouring of the edges of K₆₁ contains a monochromatic triangle, equivalently R₄(3)≤61, then S(6)≤1801. More generally, if R_k(3)≤r, then S(k+1)≤2(k+1)⌊(r−1)/2⌋+1. The Lean proof also gives structural restrictions for a six-colour sum-free colouring at the 1801 frontier under the same R₄(3) hypothesis.
Basis
Reported by the linked checker
Evidence source

Checking a formal statement does not establish that it matches the original problem.

Human understanding Few

The source documents AI audit and formal proof but no independent human proof review or human explanation of the AI-proposed argument. Few is the evidence default.

Correction and publication history

2026-10-18 · publication

Primary-source review of the exact conditional theorem, stronger published baselines, AI-origin arguments, unproved Ramsey premise and prior-method uncertainty.

Read this published revision