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Given $n$ points of general position in $\mathbb{R}^d$ (say, $n>d$ and no $d+1$ lie in a hyperplane.) We want to draw $k$ hyperplanes not passing through those points so that they all are in different open regions of the complement of the drawn planes. What is the minimal value $k(n,d)$ for which it may be always done? Case $d=2$ is solved by D. Gerbner, G. Tóth, `Separating families of convex sets' (arxiv:1211.2982). The answer is $\lceil n/2\rceil$, the upper estimate holds for points in convex position, the lower is proved by rotating the line which halves the number of points. For $d$, I may only show lower estimate like $(n-1)/d$ by considering points on the moment curve $(t,t^2,\dots,t^d)$ (and, of course, $k(n,d)\leq k(n,d-1)$ by projection argument).

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    $\begingroup$ Doesn't the moment curve technically give the lower bound $(n-1)/d$, or is there an obvious way to improve it to $n/d$? $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 22:11
  • $\begingroup$ Indeed. For even $d$ it may be improved to $n/d$, for odd $d$ I do not see this now. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 22:52
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    $\begingroup$ I feel that an upper bound of something like $\sim n/d+\log(d)$ can be achieved by first dividing the points into $d$ groups of size $\sim n/d$, and then ham-sandwiching. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 5, 2015 at 23:12

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$\lceil n/d\rceil+d-2$ hyperplanes always suffice. To achieve this, we first choose $H_1,\dots,H_{d-1}$ in a manner that $H_1$ separates $\lceil n/d\rceil$ points from the rest, $H_2$ separates $\lceil n/d\rceil$ of those rest ones, and so on. Thus we get $d$ sets $S_1,\dots,S_d$ separated from each other, each consisting of at most $k=\lceil n/d\rceil$ points.

We prove by induction on $k$ that such $d$ sets can be separated completely by $k-1$ hyperplanes. To perform the induction step, we implement the ham-sandwich theorem to bisect att $S_1,\dots,S_d$. We may shift this bisecting hyperplane a bit, so that on one side we get a collection of sets $S_1^1,\dots,S_d^1$ with at most $\lceil k/2\rceil$ points in each, and on the other side we have a collection of $S_1^2,\dots,S_d^2$ with at most $\lfloor k/2\rfloor$ points in each. Now apply the induction hypothesis to each of these collections separately.

Perhaps, the `$+d$' term can be improved by choosing the initial hyperplanes in a smarter way?

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  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, I did not see @YoavKallus's comment when I was typing this. On the other hand, I am not sure whether $\log d$ can be achieved. Should I remove this answer? $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 9:41
  • $\begingroup$ You definitely should not. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 9:58
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    $\begingroup$ This paper seems to elaborate on how to achieve $[n/d]+\log d$ using the Ham Sandwiching that Yoav Kallus mentioned. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/… $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 10:03
  • $\begingroup$ Oh, great, thanks. I expected that some people have thought about this question. $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 10:27
  • $\begingroup$ Hm, yes, I was stupid enough in order not to use ham-sandwich at the initial stage... $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 12:00

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