Ramsey Theory

Ramsey theory is a relatively new, approximately 100 year-old direction of fascinating mathematical thought that touches on many classic fields of mathematics such as combinatorics, number theory, geometry, ergodic theory, topology, combinatorial geometry, set theory, and measure theory. Ramsey theory possesses its own unifying ideas, and some of its results are among the most beautiful theorems of mathematics. The underlying theme of Ramsey theory can be formulated as: any finite coloring of a large enough system contains a monochromatic subsystem of higher degree of organization than the system itself, or as T.S. Motzkin famously put it, absolute disorder is impossible.