Take a map, any map. Can you color it using only five colors (no neighboring regions can be colored the same)?

Yes you can, and it's pretty simple. Any map can be colored with five colors; it was proven in the 19th century.

But can a map be colored in four colors? The answer once again as a resounding yes, only it's not that simple. Give it a whirl, we'll wait!

Still with us? It took much longer to prove the so-called four color theorem; many have tried and failed. It wasn't until 1976 when mathematicians Kenneth Appel (Jew) and Wolfgang Haken (goy) did it. They weren't alone; they had to get some help from an unlikely source... a computer.

Appel and Haken enlisted a programmer and ran every single possible four-color map through an algorithm. After a long wait, the proof was theirs.

The establishment frowned at Appel and Haken, as using the computer was seen as a cheat. (Those were the days...) That being said, their work was essential in legitimizing machine help in solving scientific problems.

Of course, not every map can be colored in three colors... But can you prove if an arbitrary map can? See if you can figure that one out, we'll be here all day!