The color space of a graph

If k is a prime power, and G is a graph with n vertices, then a k-coloring of G may be considered as a vector in GF(k)(n). We prove that the subspace of GF(3)(n) spanned by all 3-colorings of a planar triangle-free graph with n vertices has dimension n. In particular, any such graph has at least n - 1 nonequivalent 3-colorings, and the addition of any edge or any vertex of degree 3 results in a 3-colorable graph. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.