Erdős Problem #847

The problem

Let $A\subset \mathbb{N}$ be an infinite set for which there exists some $\epsilon>0$ such that in any subset of $A$ of size $n$ there is a subset of size at least $\epsilon n$ which contains no three-term arithmetic progression.

Is it true that $A$ is the union of a finite number of sets which contain no three-term arithmetic progression?

Statement quoted from erdosproblems.com/847, maintained by Thomas Bloom. Original source: [Er92b]. Current status there: disproved (Lean).

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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