A New 3-

olor Criterion for Planar Graphs

(extended abstra t)
Krzysztof Diks, ukasz Kowalik, Ma iej Kurowski

{diks, kowalik, kuros}mimuw.edu.pl

Institute of Informati s, Warsaw University
Bana ha 2, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland

We present a new general 3- olor riterion for planar graphs.

Applying this riterion we hara terize a broad lass of 3- olorable planar
graphs and provide a orresponding linear time 3- oloring algorithm. We
also hara terize fully innite 3- olorable planar triangulations.

Abstra t.

1 Introdu tion
The problem of vertex oloring of a graph using few olors has given rise to one of
the most intensively studied areas of the graph theory. A frequently en ountered
spe ial ase is that in whi h the graph to be olored is planar. Computing a
oloring that uses the smallest possible number of olors is known to be an NP omplete problem, even when restri ted to the lass of planar graphs and 3 olors.
More pre isely it is an NP- omplete problem to de ide whether a given planar
graph is 3- olorable [GJS. On the other hand the famous 4- olor theorem says
that every planar graph is 4- olorable. Hen e it is natural to hara terize those
planar graphs whi h are 3- olorable. The rst 3- olor riterion was formulated
by Heawood in 1898 and it is known as the Three Color Theorem [Hea,Ste:

A maximal planar graph is vertex olorable in three olors if and only if all
its verti es have even degrees. Obviously this theorem implies a very simple
algorithm for he king 3- olorability of maximal planar graphs. As the problem
of 3- olorability of planar graphs is NP- omplete one annot rather expe t any
ee tive 3- olor riterion for general planar graphs. On the other hand there
is a simple, general 3- olor riterion whi h does not lead to an e ient 3-

A planar graph is vertex olorable in three olors if and

only if it is a subgraph of a maximal planar graph in whi h all verti es have
even degrees. This theorem was already known to Heawood as well as it was
oloring algorithms:

dis overed independently by several authors  see the omprehensive survey

written by Steinberg [Ste.
In this paper we introdu e a new general 3- olor riterion whi h an be
e iently he ked for a broad lass of planar graphs. Our riterion generalizes
the Heawood's Three Color Theorem. In order to get this result we dene a new
lass of planar graph olorings, so alled

edge-side olorings, and prove that the

new type of oloring is equivalent to the ordinary vertex 3- oloring. The riterion
allows to hara terize 3- olorable triangulations with holes, i.e. plane graphs in

whi h ea h vertex tou hes at most one non-triangular fa e. We provide a linear

time algorithm for 3- oloring su h graphs. Our riterion allows also to formulate
su ient and ne essary onditions for 3- oloring innite planar triangulations.

2 Basi Denitions and Notation

It is known that a graph is 3- olorable i all its bi onne ted omponents are
3- olorable. In the sequel, if it is not stated expli itly, saying a graph we mean
a bi onne ted, nite multigraph of at least three verti es but without seloops.
A

plane graph

is a graph whose vertex set is a point set in the plane and the

edges are Jordan urves su h that two dierent edges have at most end points
in ommon. A graph is alled

planar

if it an be embedded in the plane, i.e. if

it is isomorphi to a plane graph.

C be a simple y le in a plane graph G. The y le C divides the plane

interior C -domain (homeomorphi to an
open dis ) and the exterior C -domain. The set onsisting of all verti es of G
belonging to the interior C -domain and of all edges rossing this domain is
denoted by Int C . If v is a vertex on C then the number of the graph neighbors
of v lying in the interior C -domain is alled the internal degree of v with respe t
to C and it is denoted by dI n(C; v ) =
(v; w )
E (G) : w
Int C . We dene
the internal degree of the y le C as the sum of the internal degrees of all its
verti es. This sum is denoted by dI n(C ) =
dI n(C; v ).
v 2C
A fa e in a plane graph G is a C -domain (interior or exterior), for some y le
C , without any verti es and edges inside. Only one fa e is unbounded and it is
Let

into two disjoint open domains  the

jf

gj

outer fa e. Similarly, its boundary y le is alled the outer one.

triangulation is a plane graph in whi h the boundary y le of every fa e is

alled the
A

a triangle (3- y le). A bi onne ted plane graph in whi h all the boundary y les,
ex ept at most one, are triangles is alled a

near-triangulation.

W.l.o.g. we will

onsider this boundary y le to be the outer one.

A graph is

internally even

even

if all its verti es have even degrees. A near-triangulation is

if all its verti es dierent from those on the outer y le have even

degrees.

3 A New 3- olor Criterion

In 1898 Heawood [Hea proved a theorem hara terizing (nite) 3- olorable triangulations:

Theorem 1 (Three Color Theorem). A (nite) triangulation is 3- olorable

if and only if it is even.

This riterion applies only to the

maximal

planar graphs whi h are isomor-

phi to triangulations. It allows to he k in a very simple manner whether a

given maximal planar graph is 3- olorable. One an ask a natural question: an
the riterion be generalized to all planar graphs? Unfortunately, sin e he king

3- olorability is an NP- omplete problem even in the planar ase, we annot

rather expe t any polynomially he kable riterion for general planar graphs.
However there are general riteria whi h allow he king 3- olorability of a given
planar graph in some spe ial ases. As stated in [Ste su h a general riterion
was already known to Heawood [Hea. Nevertheless it was not widely known and
has been independently dis overed and proved several times, e.g. in [Kr1, [Kr2,
[Mar. The riterion follows:

Theorem 2 (Heawood's 3- olor Criterion). Let

following two onditions are equivalent:

(i) G is 3- olorable.
(ii) There exists an even triangulation
H  G.

su h that

Moreover, every 3- oloring of a plane graph

of some even triangulation H  G.

be a plane graph. The

is a subgraph of

H,

i.e.

an be extended to a 3- oloring

As we an see the 3- olor riterion stated above tells us nothing about the
stru ture of the graph under onsideration. In this se tion we provide a new type
of graph oloring, alled

edge-side oloring,

whi h is equivalent to the vertex 3-

oloring but additionally ree ts some stru tural properties of a given graph.
This new feature will allow us to hara terize a new, broad lass of 3- olorable
planar graphs whi h are re ognizable and 3- olorable in a linear time.
We start from a few indispensable denitions.
Let G be a plane graph, f a fa e in G and e an edge on the boundary y le
f . The pair s = (e; f ) is alled a side of edge e in fa e f (or shortly a side ).
We say also that side s tou hes fa e f . If vertex v is an end point of e then side
s is said to be in ident with v . Observe that in a bi onne ted graph every edge
of

has exa tly two sides.

of

Let G be a plane graph and S be the set of all sides in G.

G is an arbitrary fun tion

m:S

Edge-side oloring

! fbla k; whiteg:

Edges with one side bla k and the other side white are alled
other edges are alled

one- olor edges

and an be of type

b-b

on the olors of their sides, bla k or white respe tively.

We say that an edge-side oloring of a plane graph

G is

or

b-w edges. The

w-w depending

proper

if and only if

the following two onditions are satised:

(i) for ea h fa e

f in G the numbers of white and bla k sides tou hing f are

ongruent (equal) mod 3;

(ii) ea h vertex

v in G is in ident with an even number of one- olor edges.

We say that a plane graph

G is edge-side

olorable if its edge-sides an be properly

olored.
Now we an state the main theorem of the paper.

Fig. 1.

A proper edge-side oloring. Light (dark) lines indi ate white (bla k) sides

Theorem 3 (3- olor Criteria). Let

following three onditions are equivalent:

(i) G is 3- olorable.
(ii) There exists an even triangulation
(iii) G is edge-side olorable.

be a (bi onne ted) plane graph. The

 G.

The equivalen e of onditions (i) and (ii) was proved by Heawood (see Theorem 2). The proof of the equivalen e of (ii) and (iii) is our main ontribution to this paper. We start from a few observations on internally even neartriangulations.

Lemma 1. Every internally even near-triangulation is 3- olorable.

Proof.

C be the outer y le of a near-triangulation G. Let us take a separate

G0 of G in whi h the y le C 0 orresponding to C is not longer the
0
outer one. Now we build a new plane graph H from G pla ing the entire graph
0
G in the interior C -domain and identifying the orresponding verti es and edges
0
of the y les C and C as shown in Fig. 2. One an easily he k that the graph
H is an even plane triangulation and hen e it is 3- olorable by the Heawood's
Three Color Theorem. Sin e G
H it is also 3- olorable.
Let

embedding

Lemma 2. Let

jC j  0
Proof.

(mod 3).

ut

be an even near-triangulation with the outer y le

C.

Then

G is 3- olorable. Let C = v0 v1 : : : vjC j 1 v0 and let

be an
G. We will show that one an rename the olors in
in
su h a way that
(vi ) = (i mod 3) + 1, for every i = 0 : : : C
1.
Let v be an arbitrary vertex in C and let x and y be its neighbors su h
that x, y and v are in ident with the same internal (not unbounded) triangular
fa e in G. Verti es x, y , and v have dierent olors. Now one an observe that
By Lemma 1,

arbitrary 3- oloring of

j j

u2

u
2
u
1

u2
u1

u3

C
u1

u
3

C
u3
G

u0
u
0

G
u4

u4

u0

u
4

u5
u
5

u5

Fig. 2.

Proof of lemma 1

v , in a sequen e of all neighbors listed in the

v is even its neighbors
on C have dierent olors. As a result we get
(vi ) = (i mod 3) + 1 (possibly
after renaming the olors) what implies C
0 (mod 3).

every two su essive neighbors of

lo kwise order, have dierent olors. Sin e the degree of

K
j j
ut
Lemma 3. For every i  3 su h that i  0 (mod 3) there exists a nite even
near-triangulation with the outer y le of length i.
Proof.

The proof is by indu tion on

i. For i = 3 it su es to take K3 .

Indu tive step: by the indu tion hypothesis there exists a nite, even near-

G0 with the outer y le of length i

3. Let v1 , v2 be arbitrary
G0 . Then G = G0
v 3 ; v4 ; v5
v2 v3 ;
v3
v4 ; v4
v5 ; v5
v1 ; v2
v4 ; v1
v4 is an even near-triangulation and its
outer y le has length i.

triangulation

adja ent verti es in the outer y le of

[f

g[f

ut

Let C be a simple y le and let mC be an arbitrary edge 2- oloring of C ,

mC : E (C )
bla k; white . We say that oloring mC is balan ed if and only
1
1
if mC (bla k )
mC (white)
(mod 3).
Let G be a graph and let C be a simple y le in G. We say that a balan ed
oloring mC of C orresponds with G if the following holds: for every vertex v
in C the edges of E (C ) in ident with v have dierent olors if and only if the
degree dG (v ) of v in G is odd.

!f
jj

Lemma 4 (Key lemma).

(i) For every internally even near-triangulation G with the outer y le C there
exists a balan ed 2- oloring mC of C orresponding with G.
(ii) For every balan ed 2- oloring mC of a y le C there exists an internally even
near-triangulation G with the outer y le C and su h that mC orresponds
with G.

Proof (i).

G is internally even, the number of verti es of C with odd

v1 ; v2 ; : : : ; v2k 1 ; v2k be a list of all su h verti es given in
the lo kwise order. For ea h i = 1; 2; : : : ; k , we olor bla k edges on C between
v2i 1 and v2i . The remaining edges are olored white (see Fig. 3). Observe that
verti es in C are in ident with edges of dierent olors if and only if they have
Sin e

degrees is even. Let

odd degrees.

v4

v3
v2

v5
v1
v6

Fig. 3.

Let

Constru ting a balan ed 2- oloring

b be the number of bla k edges on C and let w be the number of white

C . After extending G by triangles formed in the outer (unbounded) fa e

edges on

and with the bla k edges as the triangle bases (as shown in Fig. 3) we get an even
near-triangulation. By Lemma 2 the outer y le of this triangulation has length

0

(mod 3). Hen e 2b + w

Proof (ii).

0

(mod 3) and nally b

w

(mod 3).

ut

C by b and w ree in the interior C -domain as

shown in Fig. 4. As the result we get a graph H . Observe that vertex v of H has
odd degree if and only if it is in ident on C with edges of dierent olors.
Denote the number of bla k and white edges of

spe tively. We form a triangle on ea h bla k edge

C
H

Fig. 4.

Let

The graph

H with the outer y le C  onstru ting a near-triangulation

f be the only fa e of H dierent from the added triangles and pla ed

C -domain. The length of the f 's boundary y le is 2b + w

in the interior

(mod 3). By Lemma 3, one an triangulate this fa e and obtain a required

internally even near-triangulation

G.

ut

Lemma 5. Let G be a nite, bi onne ted plane graph. Let H be an even triangulation (possibly innite but lo ally nite) su h that G  H . If for every fa e
of G with fa ial y le Cf there exists a balan ed edge 2- oloring orresponding
with Cf [ IntH Cf , the graph G is edge-side olorable.
f

Proof.

f of G with the fa ial y le Cf let mCf be a balan ed edge

Cf
IntH Cf . Let us take an edge-side oloring
assigning ea h side (f; e) the olor mCf (e). Obviously this oloring satises the
For every fa e

2- oloring orresponding with

rst ondition of the denition of the proper edge-side oloring. In order to prove

v in G. Let f 0 be an arbitrary
0
fa e in G with v on its fa ial y le. Denote this y le by C . Let e1 ; e2 be the
0
edges of C in ident with v . Sin e mCf 0 orresponds with Cf 0 IntH Cf 0 the sides
0
0
of e1 , e2 in f have the same olor if and only if the degree dI nH (C ; v ) is even.
Let B (v ) denote the number of bla k sides in ident with v . If dG (v ) is odd then
0
0
there is an odd number of fa es f in ident with v and su h that dI nH (C ; v ) is
0
odd. On the other hand if dG (v ) is even the number of fa es f in ident with v
0
and su h that dI nH (C ; v ) is odd is even. It follows that dG (v ) + B (v ) is always
the other one let us onsider an arbitrary vertex

even whi h is equivalent to the statement that the number of one- olor edges
in ident with

v is even.

We have just showed that the se ond ondition in the denition of proper
edge-side oloring is satised, whi h ompletes the proof.

$(iii) of our main theorem.

ut

Now we are ready to prove the part (ii)

Proof.
(ii)

!(iii)

Assume that there exists an even triangulation

 G. Observe that sin e G

f with
Cf we an apply lemma 4 to get a balan ed edge 2- oloring mC
of E (C ) orresponding with the near-triangulation Cf
IntH Cf . Now we an
apply lemma 5 to obtain a proper edge-side oloring of G, what ompletes the
is bi onne ted, every fa e is bounded by a simple y le. For ea h fa e
the fa ial y le

proof of (ii)
(ii)

!(iii).

(iii)

Assume that

G is properly edge-side olored. By Lemma 4 one an triangulate

(i.e. divide into triangles) ea h fa e into an internally even near-triangulation

H
G. Let v be an arbitrary vertex of G. Denote by
F (v ) the number of fa es in ident with v for whi h the odd number of edges
ending in v was added during the pro ess of triangulation. Similarly as in the
proof of lemma 5 one an show that dG (v ) + F (v ) is even. It implies nally that
for every vertex v , dH (v ) is even, what means that H is an even triangulation.
getting a triangulation

ut

As the result we get a new 3- olor riterion for general planar graphs. In fa t,
using this riterion for he king whether an arbitrary plane graph is 3- olorable
is equally hard as trying to nd a proper 3- oloring of a given graph. However
we an apply our theorem to show a few lasses of planar graphs for whi h the
new riterion an be ee tively he ked.

4 Appli ations
One an expe t that the riterion formulated in se tion 3 an be ee tively
he ked for graphs that are "highly triangulated", i. e. when

a lot

of fa es are

triangles. Moreover, if su h a graph has a spe ial stru ture it an be olored using
a greedy algorithm. We dene formally a lass of graphs for whi h the greedy

G is alled triangle onne ted if ea h vertex

G is in ident with a triangular fa e and the subgraph of the graph dual to G

algorithm works well. A plane graph

of

indu ed by the triangular fa es is onne ted.

In the following subse tions we present the greedy algorithm and three lasses
of graphs for whi h ee tive 3- olor riteria an be formulated. Our general
riterion an be also used to show that plane graphs with fa e lengths of multiple
of three are 3- olorable.

4.1 The Greedy Algorithm

Given a planar, triangle onne ted graph (without its planar embedding) the
algorithm below omputes its 3- oloring or reports that su h a oloring doesn't

v set PossibleColors(v )
v ; S represents the set of verti es

exist. The algorithm runs in a linear time. For ea h vertex

ontains olors whi h are still admissible for

for whi h set PossibleColor ontains at most one olor. Algorithm uses operation

RESTRICT(v) whi h
OPERATION

restri ts the set of admissible olors for neighbors of

RESTRICT(v )::

for ea h u in Neighbors(v) do
if Col(u) = -1 then
begin

PossibleColors(u).Remove(Col(v ))

if jPossibleColors(u)j  1 then S .Add(u)

end
ALGORITHM

GREEDY::

for ea h v in V (G) do
begin

PossibleColors(v ) := {1, 2, 3}
Col(v ) := -1 {undened}

end

S :=
(p,

q ) := an arbitrary edge of an arbitrary triangle in G

Col(p) := 1
Col(q ) := 2
RESTRICT(p)
RESTRICT(q )

while not S.Empty do

v.

begin

v := S.Remove

if

jPossibleColors(v)j 6= 1 then

Exit{G is not 3- olorable}

else
begin

Col(v ) := PossibleColors(v ).Get

RESTRICT(v )

end
end while

Finding a triangle in a planar graph without its embedding in the plane an

be easily done in a linear time, see [Chr. During ea h iteration algorithm hooses
a triangle with two verti es already olored and olors the third vertex. It an be
easily shown that in every embedding one of edges of the initial triangle bounds a
triangular fa e. As graph is triangle onne ted algorithms stops when all verti es
are properly olored.

4.2 Triangulations with Holes

A bi onne ted plane graph is alled a

triangulation with holes

if every of its

verti es is in ident with at most one non-triangular fa e, i.e. a fa e of length at

least 4.

Proposition 1. Every triangulation with holes is triangle onne ted.

Proof.

G be a triangulation with holes. Consider two triangular fa es f , h

v . Vertex v is in ident with at most one non-triangular
fa e and subsequently f and h an be onne ted by a sequen e formed of trianLet

sharing a ommon vertex

gular fa es, where ea h two su essive fa es share a ommon edge.

Now let f and h be two arbitrary triangular fa es of G. Sin e G is onne ted,
f and h an be onne ted by a path e1 , e2 , . . . , ek , where ei are edges of G. Ea h
edge belongs to at least one triangular fa e. Denote su h fa e for ei by ti . Every
two su essive fa es ti , ti+1 share a vertex. Additionally t1 shares a vertex with
f and tk shares a vertex with h. Hen e we on lude that f and h are onne ted
by a path formed of triangular fa es, where ea h two su essive fa es share a

ut

ommon edge.

G a
f be a fa e in G. Let Cf be the fa ial y le of
and an arbitrary even triangulation H
G the

Triangulations with holes have the following interesting property. Let

triangulation with holes and let

f . Then for every vertex v in Cf

dI nH (Cf ; v ) is the same. It follows that there is exa tly one edge-side

parity of

oloring for every triangulation with holes (if not to onsider isomorphi ones).
This implies a very simple 3- olor riterion for triangulations with holes.
We say that a triangulation with holes is

internally even

every vertex in ident with triangular fa es only is even.

when the degree of

Theorem 4. A triangulation with holes G is 3- olorable if and only if

(i) it is internally even,
(ii) for every non-triangular fa e f with the fa ial y le Cf there exists a balan ed
edge 2- oloring mCf of Cf orresponding with G.
Proof.

The proof follows easily from Theorem 3. Let

holes satisfying onditions

G be a triangulation with

(i) and (ii). We shall show that G is 3- olorable. For

f , we olor all its sides (e; f ) bla k. For ea h non-triangular

f with fa ial y le Cf we olor every side (e; f ) with olor mCf (e). The

ea h triangular fa e
fa e

onstru ted edge-side oloring is balan ed for ea h fa e and it is easy to he k

that every vertex is in ident with an even number of one- olor edges. Now it
su es to use theorem 3.
Now we will show the other impli ation. Let

G be a 3- olorable triangulation
m. We

with holes. Using theorem 3 we an obtain its proper edge-side oloring

re olor bla k all sides of all triangular fa es obtaining a new edge-side oloring

m0 . One an see that m0 is also proper. Now all verti es tou hing only triangular
fa es are ends of only one- olor (bla k) edges. Hen e they have even degrees.
Moreover one an verify that for every non-triangular fa e
y le

Cf the oloring mCf (e) = m0 (f; e) orresponds with G.

f with the fa ial

ut

4.3 Near-triangulations and Outerplanar Graphs

Obviously near-triangulations are triangulations with holes. Informally speaking
a near-triangulation is a

triangulation with only one hole. It gives a very simple

3- olor riterion for near-triangulations:

Theorem 5. A near-triangulation is 3- olorable if and only if it is internally

even.

Proof.

Lemma 4 implies that the se ond ondition of the Theorem 4 is always

ut

satised for near-triangulations.

As every outerplanar graph is a subgraph of a ertain internally even neartriangulation we immediately get the following known result:

Corollary 1. Outerplanar graphs are 3- olorable.

4.4 Plane Graphs with Fa es whi h Lengths Are of Multiple of 3
The following theorem ([Ore, [Ste) easily follows from our riterion:

Theorem 6. Let

G be a graph embedded in the plane in su h a way that the

number of edges in the boundary of ea h fa e is a multiple of 3. If G is even then
G is 3- olorable.

Proof.

It su es to olor all edge-sides in

G bla k and to apply Theorem 3.

ut

4.5 Innite Triangulations

It is surprising that we an apply our riterion to innite plane graphs. An

innite triangulation

is an innite plane graph with all fa es being triangles. We

will onsider only lo ally nite triangulation where degrees of all verti es are

edge a umulation point (shortly EAP) of an innite plane graph G

P su h that for every positive real number  there are innitely many
edges of G with Eu lidean distan e from P less than . We will show that the
nite. An
is a point

Three Color Theorem holds also for EAP-free innite triangulations.

Theorem 7. An EAP-free innite triangulation is 3- olorable if and only it is

even.

Proof.

Assume that EAP-free innite triangulation

G is 3- olorable. Let v be

a vertex of odd degree. Sin e arbitrary two su essive neighbors (in lo kwise
order) of

v are adja ent they have dierent olors. As there is an odd number
v we need 3 olors to olor them and there is no olor left for v .

of neighbors of

We have just proved impli ation (

Assume that

!).

G is even. Let v0 be an arbitrary vertex of G. We dene a

sequen e of graphs

 G  G  G :::
Let V (G ) = fv g and E (G ) = ;. Let W be the set of verti es with the graph
G0

i from v . Sin e graph G(Wi ) is nite, it has the outer fa e fi

with the fa ial y le Ci . Obviously there are no ut verti es in G(Wi ). Therefore
Ci is a simple y le. We dene Gi as Ci
IntG Ci . Sin e G is EAP-free for
every natural i, Gi is a nite graph. Moreover Gi is an internally even neartriangulation. It follows from Theorem 5 that graphs Gi are 3- olorable. Sin e
Gi 1
Gi , for i > 1, and 3- olorings of Gi and Gi 1 are unique (i. e. they dene
distan e at most

the unique partition of the verti es into 3 independent subsets) we an onstru t

Gi , i = 0; 1; 2; : : :, su h that i jGi 1 = i 1 . Now we

G as (u) = d(v0 ;u) (u), where d(v0 ; u) denotes the
graph distan e from v0 to u.

3- olorings

for graphs

an dene a 3- oloring of

ut

It is easy to show examples of innite even triangulations with EAP that

are even, but

not

3- olorable. The onstru tion of su h triangulation is shown

in Fig. 5. One an see that even rst graph in this sequen e is not 3- olorable.
In the sequel we use the following well-known fa t.

Fa t.
then

Let G be an innite graph. If every nite subgraph of G is k - olorable

G is k - olorable.

Theorem 8. Let G be an innite but lo ally nite triangulation (not ne essarily

EAP-free).

is 3- olorable if and only if

(i) G is even,
(ii) for every simple y le C in G there exists a balan ed edge 2- oloring of
orresponding with C [ IntG C .

...

Fig. 5.

Proof.

A onstru tion of not 3- olorable even innite triangulation

G is 3- olorable. Then obviously G must be even. Now let

C in G. Let VH
V be a set of verti es dened
as follows: v
VH if and only if v has a neighbor in V (C ) and v
C IntG C .
Let H = G(VH ). As H
G, H is 3- olorable. It is easy to see that H is a
Assume that

us onsider an arbitrary y le

2 [

bi onne ted graph. Therefore we an apply Theorem 3 and get a required edge

mC orresponding with C

[ Int

C.
G is 3- olorable. It su es to prove
that if G satises (i) and (ii) then every nite subgraph of G is 3- olorable. Let
F be a nite subgraph of G. W.l.o.g. one an assume that F is bi onne ted. If
not, F is a subgraph of a ertain bi onne ted graph G(Wi ) dened in the proof
2- oloring

Now we prove that if (i) and (ii) hold then

of the previous theorem. Now we an use Lemma 5 to get a proper edge-side

oloring of

F and nish the proof using Theorem 3.

ut

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