The Four-Colour Theorem is of particular interest to computer scientists, as it was one of the first mathematical problems for which proof by hand is not feasible that was proven with the aid of a computer. The original computer proof has been criticised as inelegant, and additionally all the current computer-based proofs merely prove the conjecture, they do not provide much insight into the colouring process. One possible solution to this is visualisation. Visual investigation of colouring algorithms may provide new insights into their operation.
A visualisation tool, Irodoru, has been developed as proof of this concept. While other graph visualisation toolkits exist, Irodoru has been built specifically for investigation of the four-colour theorem. It uses GTK+ for its GUI elements, and has an embedded ECLiPSe constraint logic programming environment as a back-end for investigatory algorithms.
More information about the Four Colour Theorem can be found on the Four Colour Theorem page. Information about Irodoru can be found on the Irodoru page. Windows binaries and source code for Irodoru are located on the downloads page. User Documentation can be found on the user documentation page. Links and references contains links to other relevant websites and references to literature. Note that this site was designed for Mozilla Firefox and your browsing experience may vary when using other browsers.
