Solved by Erdős, Rousseau, and Schelp for large $n$, but unpublished. Alon has observed that this also follows from a result of Pyber
[Py86], which states that (for large enough $n$) at most $\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor+2$ monochromatic cliques cover all edges of a $2$-coloured $K_n$.
This problem was solved completely by Keevash and Sudakov
[KeSu04], who proved that the correct threshold is $\lfloor n^2/4\rfloor$ for all $n\geq 7$, is $\binom{n}{2}$ for $n\leq 5$, and is $10$ for $n=6$.
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Additional thanks to: Andrea Freschi and Antonio Girao
When referring to this problem, please use the original sources of Erdős. If you wish to acknowledge this website, the recommended citation format is:
T. F. Bloom, Erdős Problem #639, https://www.erdosproblems.com/639, accessed 2026-04-11