Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: AI-adaptedProof: AI-generatedprecheck passaudited 2026-08-02
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Camion's theorem: every strongly connected tournament on at least three vertices has a directed Hamilton cycle

Statement

Every strongly connected finite tournament on at least three vertices has a directed Hamilton cycle.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A strongly connected finite tournament T with at least three vertices.

[F1]

A tournament has no directed loops, and every two distinct vertices are joined by exactly one directed arc (A tournament is an orientation of a complete finite graph).

[F2]

Strong connectivity gives a directed path for every ordered pair, and a directed cycle has at least three distinct vertices (Directed walks, trails, paths and cycles, and strong connectivity).

[L1]

An outside vertex with both an in-neighbour and an out-neighbour on a directed cycle can be inserted to make a longer directed cycle (A tournament vertex having an in-neighbour and an out-neighbour on a directed cycle can be inserted into that cycle).

[F3]

A nonempty finite set of cycle lengths has a greatest member (The cardinality ∣A∣ of a finite set).

Proof

technique · contradiction
1.1

Strong connectivity gives a positive directed closed walk. Choose one of minimum positive length. It cannot have length one or two by [F1], and minimality prevents a repeated internal vertex, so it is a directed cycle of length at least three. By finiteness, choose a directed cycle C of greatest length.

givenF1F2F3
2.1

Assume for contradiction that C omits at least one vertex. By [L1] and maximality, every vertex outside C either sends arcs to every vertex of C or receives arcs from every vertex of C. Call these two classes A and B, respectively.

step 1.1L1F1assume-contra
3.1

Strong connectivity forces both A and B to be nonempty: if A were empty no outside vertex could reach C, while if B were empty C could not reach an outside vertex. A shortest directed path from C to a vertex of A begins by entering B and at some first transition contains an arc ba with b∈B and a∈A.

step 2.1F2cases
4.1

Choose any cycle arc cici+1. Since b∈B and a∈A, the arcs cib, ba, and aci+1 all occur. Replacing cici+1 by this three-arc path produces a directed cycle containing every vertex of C together with a,b, contradicting the maximality of C.

step 1.1step 2.1step 3.1F1F2
5.1

The supposition in step 2.1 is impossible. Hence C contains every vertex of T and is a directed Hamilton cycle.

step 2.1step 4.1discharge-contradiction∎

Depends on

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Sources