Erdős Problem #705

The problem

Let $G$ be a finite unit distance graph in $\mathbb{R}^2$ (i.e. the vertices are a finite collection of points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ and there is an edge between two points if and only if the distance between them is $1$).

Is there some $k$ such that if $G$ has girth $\geq k$ (i.e. $G$ contains no cycles of length $<k$) then $\chi(G)\leq 3$?

Statement quoted from erdosproblems.com/705, maintained by Thomas Bloom. Original source: [Er81,p.27]. Current status there: disproved.

AI contributions

As recorded in Terence Tao's wiki AI contributions to Erdős problems (data as of 30 Jun 2026). 🟢 full, 🟡 partial, ⚪ unverified, 🔴 incorrect.

Caveats

The wiki's classifications are provisional and are not a benchmark. Many Erdős problems have never had a thorough literature review, so a result that looks new may later turn out to be known; some problems were also stated ambiguously or incorrectly. See the problem page for the full discussion.

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