ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Tardos function

A Tardos function is like a game where you try to color pictures with as few colors as possible. The pictures are made up of lots of little parts called vertices, and these vertices are connected by lines called edges.

Each color you use has to be different from all the other colors used on the vertices connected by an edge. So if two vertices are connected by an edge, they can't have the same color.

The goal is to color the whole picture with the fewest colors possible, and a Tardos function helps you figure out how many colors you need to do that.

Imagine you have a Tardos function that gets inputted with a picture. It goes through the picture and tries to color all of the vertices in the picture with as few colors as possible.

The Tardos function looks at the pattern of vertices and edges in the picture and determines the fewest number of colors that will work. It does this by checking the pattern of the vertices and the number of edges each vertex has.

Once the Tardos function has figured out the fewest number of colors needed, it gives you that number so you know how many colors to use when you color the picture.

So a Tardos function helps you figure out how to color pictures in the most efficient way possible so that the pictures look pretty and use the fewest number of colors possible.