AfterMath and the Shelah–Soifer Class of Graphs

In 1900s–1930s, the foundations of set theory dominated mathematicians’ interests. Nowadays, the interest in the foundations in general, and in the Axiom of Choice in particular, has diminished outside set theorists and logicians. Most mathematicians have settled on the ZFC-based mathematics. Shelah–Soifer papers seemed to “strike the mathematical heart” [Del]. They received a remarkable critique [Del] by Jean–Paul Delahaye, a complimentary mention in Ronald L. Graham’s articles [Gra5], [Gra6], [Gra7], and [Gra8], entered the column by Joseph O’Rourke [Oro] and were the subject of the column [Szp] by George Szpiro in the newspaper in Zürich, the city where Van der Waerden lived for 45 years. It inspired a series of works by various authors. We will look at one such paper in the next section. Another example was forwarded to me by Professor Branko Grünbaum in February 2005: