Primary evidence
- On Conjectures of GraffitiS1 · Primary research · Paper
Graffiti turns graph-theory conjecture generation into a sustained computer program
Graffiti evaluated candidate relations between graph invariants, retained statements without known counterexamples and used heuristics to suppress trivial or redundant conjectures.
What happened?
Fajtlowicz's Graffiti program generated graph-theoretic conjectures from a library of graphs and numerical invariants; the First Japan Conference on Graph Theory and Applications began on 1 June 1986 and provides the public conference anchor for the early Graffiti record.
Why it matters
It demonstrated a durable human–machine discovery workflow in which a computer proposes mathematical conjectures and the research community proves, disproves and refines them.
Significance rationale: Graffiti made automated conjecture generation a sustained research activity in graph theory, producing machine-suggested inequalities and conjectures that mathematicians could investigate.
Historical context
Earlier developments
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Later developments
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Related milestones
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Evidence & status at a glance
- Significance
- H2 · Field milestone
- Verification
- Paper released
- Evidence level
- E2 · Research record
- AI role
- Autonomous primary role
- Formal assurance
- No formal assurance
Contribution & verification
- Mathematical novelty
- New conjecture
- Interface
- Symbolic
- AI contribution
- The program autonomously generated and filtered candidate graph-theory conjectures from its knowledge base.
- Human contribution
- Siemion Fajtlowicz designed the invariant library and conjecturing heuristics, while mathematicians evaluated and developed the generated conjectures.
- Verification
- Paper released · E2 · Research record · No formal assurance
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-15
Technical details
- Systems
- graffiti
- Organizations
- university-of-houston
- Problems
- graph-theory-conjecturing
- Methods
- automated-conjecturing, heuristic-filtering, graph-invariants
Sources & artifacts
- On Conjectures of GraffitiS1 · Primary research · Paper · accessed 2026-09-15
Verification history
- 1988-01-01 · Paper released · E2 · Research record
The proceedings article “On Conjectures of Graffiti” documents the system presented in the 1986 Hakone conference series.
Corrections
No corrections recorded.