ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Paris–Harrington theorem

Okay, so imagine you have a really big pile of toys. You want to divide them into two groups so that each group has the same number of toys. But, you have a problem. You don't know if it's possible!

This is where the Paris-Harrington Theorem comes in. It says that if you have at least a certain number of toys in your pile (specifically, 1,000), then it is always possible to divide them into two groups with the same number of toys.

This might not seem like a big deal, but it's actually really important in math. The Paris-Harrington Theorem is an example of something called a "finite Ramsey theory result." That's a fancy way of saying it's a way to prove that something is true for big numbers, without actually having to check all of those numbers.

So basically, the Paris-Harrington Theorem is a way to solve a problem that would be very difficult to solve by brute force (trying all possible scenarios). Instead, it gives us a rule that we know will work for any big number.