7
$\begingroup$

There are arbitrarily large finite sets of points in $\mathbb R^3$ whose Voronoi-domains intersect all pairwise in $2-$dimensional polytopes. This shows that one needs infinitely many colours in order to colour "maps" of convex countries in $\mathbb R^d$ for $d\geq 3$.

The situation is however much better if the countries (in infinite number) are the Voronoi-cells of a $d-$dimensional lattice $\Lambda$. They can always be coloured with $2^d$ colours according to the reduction modulo $2\Lambda$ of their lattice point.

This is however not optimal as shown already by the $2-$dimensional lattices which can always be 3-coloured (in the generic case not corresponding to lattices with orthogonal bases).

How far is the upper bound $2^d$ from the smallest upper bound? (I ignore the answer even for $\mathbb R^3$.)

$\endgroup$
1

0

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.