Prove, that graph has an odd cycle

graph theory

In complete graph at 2017 vertices, all the edges were painted in 10 colors. Prove, that there is a cycle of odd length, all the edges of which are painted in the same color.

I have only one idea: that this graph has at least $\left[\frac{2016\cdot 2017}{2\cdot 10} + 1\right]$ edges of the same color.

Best Answer

It is a well-known theorem that a graph is bipartite if and only if it contains no odd cycles. So, you are essentially being asked to show that $K_{2017}$ cannot be expressed as the union of $10$ edge-disjoint bipartite graphs.

Let $G$ be a graph on 2017 vertices that is the union of ten edge-disjoint bipartite graphs. Since $2017>2^{10}$, by the pigeonhole principle there must be two vertices that are in the same part of all ten of those bipartitions. Since no vertex is connected to a vertex in the same part of a bipartite graph, those two vertices cannot be adjacent in $G$. Therefore $G$ cannot be complete.

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