An On-line Competitive Algorithm for Coloring Bipartite Graphs Without Long Induced Paths

The existence of an on-line competitive algorithm for coloring bipartite graphs is a tantalizing open problem. So far there are only partial positive results for bipartite graphs with certain small forbidden graphs as induced subgraphs. We propose an on-line competitive coloring algorithm for P9\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$P_9$$\end{document}-free bipartite graphs.