All Questions
Tagged with co.combinatorics extremal-combinatorics
72 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
21
votes
0
answers
441
views
Straight-line drawing of regular polyhedra
Find the minimum number of straight lines needed to cover a crossing-free straight-line drawing of the icosahedron $(13\dots 15)$ and of the dodecahedron $(9\dots 10)$ (in the plane).
For example, ...
- 4,535
11
votes
0
answers
195
views
Number of triangle-free graphs with prescribed number of edges
This question is posted from StackExchange since it received no answer there.
Let $f(n, e)$ be the number of triangle-free graphs on $n$ vertices and $e$ edges. From empirical evidence, I am motivated ...
- 384
8
votes
0
answers
226
views
A variation of necklace splitting
Our problem is the following:
Let $n$ and $k$ be integers.
We are given two (unclasped) necklaces, each with $n$ colored stones: a top necklace which has $k$ colors and a bottom necklace which has 2 ...
- 81
8
votes
0
answers
1k
views
The state of art of the sunflower lemma
I am interesting in the sunflower system and its applications in computer science.
Given a Universe $U$ and a collection of $k$ sets $A_i$ is called a k-sunflower system if $A_i \cap A_j = Y $ for ...
- 393
7
votes
0
answers
177
views
Szemerédi's regularity lemma for binary operations
Szemerédi's regularity lemma is an approximate structure theorem for
all large graphs (symmetric binary relations). There are versions for
multicolored graphs and directed graphs. Is there an ...
- 50.8k
7
votes
0
answers
113
views
A question related to the union-closed sets conjecture
Let $f(n)$ denote the maximum possible cardinality of a collection $\mathcal F$ of nonempty sets which is closed under unions ($X,Y\in\mathcal F\implies X\cup Y\in\mathcal F$) and is such that no ...
- 13.4k
5
votes
0
answers
137
views
Looking for a certain finite lattice
I don't think it actually exists, and it should be difficult proving that it doesn't (some background here), but is it possible to build a finite lattice $L$ where the only meet-irreducible elements ...
- 990
5
votes
0
answers
137
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Exponential bound for very weak sunflowers?
Call $r$ sets diverse if for every $0\le i\le r$ there is an element contained in exactly $i$ of them.
A family of sets is r-diverse if any $r$ of its members are diverse.
Is there for every $r\ge 3$ ...
- 18.7k
5
votes
0
answers
226
views
Large finite subsets of Euclidean space with no isosceles (or approximately isosceles) triangles
Here's a question in combinatorial geometry which feels very much like other questions I'm familiar with but which I can't see how to get a hold of. I'll actually propose two different questions on ...
- 19.2k
5
votes
0
answers
105
views
Minimum number of balanced partitions
For any multiset $x_1,x_2,\ldots,x_{2n}$ of positive real numbers, a partition into two nonempty subsets $(A,B)$ is called "balanced" if $\text{sum}(A)\geq\text{sum}(B)-\max(B)$ and $\text{sum}(B)\geq\...
- 277
5
votes
0
answers
181
views
Families of Sets with Two Intersection Numbers
Let $k$ and $n$ be natural numbers. Let $I$ be a set of natural numbers. Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of $k$-element subsets of $\{ 1, \ldots, n\}$ such that $A, B \in \mathcal{F}$, $A \neq B$, ...
- 131
5
votes
0
answers
226
views
Diameter of subset sum graph
We have a finite set $X$, a weight function $w: X\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}^+$, and constants $k\leq c\in\mathbb{N}$.
Let the weight $w(S)$ of a set $S\subseteq X$ be the sum of the weights of its ...
- 2,896
4
votes
0
answers
114
views
A slight strengthening of the union-closed sets conjecture
Consider a union-closed family $\mathcal{F}=\{A_1,…,A_n\}$ of $n \gt 1$ finite sets.
I was not able to find a counterexample to the following conjecture:
there exist two sets $A,B \in \mathcal{F}$ ...
- 990
4
votes
0
answers
113
views
What properties do graphs avoiding large regular subgraphs have?
Fix a positive integer $r$ and real $\delta \in (0,1)$.
Let $G$ be an undirected graph on $n$ vertices. Suppose that $G$ does not contain an $r$-regular subgraph on at least $\delta n$ vertices (i.e., ...
- 557
4
votes
0
answers
241
views
Weight transfer proof of Turán’s theorem
Turán’s theorem, which states that a $K_{p+1}$-free graph contains at most $(1-1/p)\frac{N^2}{2}$ edges, can be proven in many different ways, as pointed out, for example in M. Aigner, G. M. Ziegler, ...
4
votes
0
answers
176
views
Can resolution of the Kadison-Singer Problem provide progress on the Komlos Conjecture?
This is not a concrete question, just some thoughts.
The Komlos Conjecture is as follows-
There exists an absolute constant $C>0$, such that the following holds:
For all $d$ and any set of vectors ...
- 150
4
votes
0
answers
104
views
Maximal number of smallest circuits in a matroid
It is known (see here for example) that, in a simple graph of odd genus $g$ with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges, the number of cycles of lenght $g$ is at most $\frac{n(m-n+1)}{g}$.
Since this can be be ...
- 3,446
4
votes
0
answers
96
views
Are extremal tournament matrices always circulant or 'almost circulant'?
Define an antisymmetric 1-x-matrix as an $n\times n$ matrix $M=(m_{ij})$ with $m_{ii}=0$ and $\{m_{ij},m_{ji}\}=\{1,x\}$ for all $1\le i<j\le n$. Call their set $\mathcal A_n$.
The setup is as ...
- 13.4k
4
votes
0
answers
114
views
Kruskal-Katona for homocyclic groups?
I need a version of the Kruskal-Katona theorem (better still, of the Lovasz "approximate" version thereof) for the elementary abelian / homocyclic groups, in the following spirit:
What is the ...
- 23k
3
votes
0
answers
155
views
Correspondence between even and odd permutations in $S_5$
I am working on the Davenport constant for symmetric groups, $D(G)$
, which is the minimal number $d$
such that every sequence of $d$
elements in the group G
is one-product sequence, i.e, we can ...
3
votes
0
answers
124
views
Minimum number of couples of sets with non-empty intersection in a union closed family
Every union closed family $\mathcal{F}$, $\emptyset \notin \mathcal{F}$, with $|\mathcal{F}| = n$ sets, must have at least $\frac{2}{3}\binom{n}{2}$ unordered couples of sets with at least one element ...
- 990
3
votes
0
answers
95
views
Minimum number of partitions of a set such that the same pair must occur in a block in at least half of them
For positive integers $k$ and $n$, let ${S} = \{1,\dots,k\ n\}$. Consider $\ell \ge 3$ partitions $P_1,\dots,P_\ell$ of ${S}$, where each $P_i$ splits ${S}$ into $n$ blocks all of size $k$.
Question: ...
- 31
3
votes
0
answers
70
views
Boundary differences in two graphs
Let $\Gamma, \Xi$ be two graphs with the same set of vertices $V$ with $n$ elements. Assume $\Gamma$ is connected. Write $\Gamma\cup \Xi$ (or $\Gamma\cap \Xi$) for the graph whose set of edges is the ...
- 20.2k
3
votes
0
answers
109
views
chromatic number of plane using Cairo pentagonal tiling
Scale the Cairo pentagonal tiling so the short side is of length 1. Then it is easy to colour the tiling with 8 colours, two parallel ribbons of four colours each, to establish that the chromatic ...
3
votes
0
answers
106
views
How many positions of a tile can occur in a periodic tiling?
In my recent question about polygonal tilings where tiles can occur in infinitely many positions, both constructions given as solutions are of self-similar nature. This means in particular that there ...
- 13.4k
3
votes
0
answers
122
views
Generalization of fisher inequality
What upper bounds are known on the size of a family $\mathcal{S}$ of subsets $S_i \subset [N]$ such that:
i) each $S_i$ is of size $pk$.
ii) for $i \neq j$, $|S_i \cap S_j| \bmod p \in U$, for some ...
- 131
3
votes
0
answers
66
views
An extremal problem in directed path systems
The following is a common rephrasing of the well-known open problem in extremal graph theory to (asymptotically) determine $ex(n, C_8)$:
What is the asymptotically maximum $L = L(n)$ such that ...
- 1,389
3
votes
0
answers
184
views
Matrices with only two different entries and maximal determinant
Define $\mathcal M_n$ as the set of all $n\times n$ matrices of full rank with each entry either 1 or $x$.
I am interested in how big the determinant of such a matrix can be. For this, we define in a ...
- 13.4k
3
votes
0
answers
133
views
Kruskal-Katona for multisets?
Following Fedor Petrov's remarks, here is a "set-theoretic version" of the
question I asked a while ago.
For integer $n\ge 1$, denote by $\mathcal M_n$ the family of all (finite)
multisets with the ...
- 23k
3
votes
0
answers
102
views
What is the maximal number of partitions with this maximal intersection property?
Let $X = \{ 1, \dots, n = sk \}$ be a finite set. Let $\mathscr P, \mathscr Q$ be equi-partitions of $X$ into $k$ sets of size $s$. Denote by $V(\mathscr P, \mathscr Q)$ the maximum size of ...
- 726
2
votes
0
answers
99
views
A variant of the social golfer problem and the kirkman schoolgirl problem
I came across the following simple question that seems to be open:
Let $U$ be a set of $n$ elements.
Let $P_1$ be a partition of $U$ into $k\le n$ "blocks" (i.e. disjoint subsets) and let $...
2
votes
0
answers
190
views
The drawn diagonals divide the $N\times N$ board into $K$ regions. For each $N$, determine the smallest and the largest possible values of $K$
Let $N$ be a positive integer. In each of the $N^2$ unit squares of an $N\times N$ board, one of the two diagonals is drawn. The drawn diagonals divide the $N\times N$ board into $K$ regions. For each ...
- 237
2
votes
0
answers
122
views
Number of distinct rows and columns in a matrix with bounded number of entries
How many distinct rows and columns a real square matrix can have (at least in symmetric case) such that rank of matrix is $r$ and entries:
are from $\{-b,-b+1,\dots,0,\dots,b-1,b\}$?
are from $\{-b,-...
- 13.9k
2
votes
0
answers
59
views
Totally distance non-preserving transformations
JL lemma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson%E2%80%93Lindenstrauss_lemma)
guarantees if you have a set of $K$ points in $\Bbb R^N$ a random transformation guarantees that the set can be projected ...
- 13.9k
2
votes
0
answers
84
views
Euclidean minimum spanning trees intersecting each unit square
The recent question "Euclidean Minimum Spanning Trees Restricted to One Vertex Per Grid Cell" can be restated in terms of "minimum spanning trees intersecting each (closed) lattice square of an $n\...
- 13.4k
2
votes
0
answers
457
views
combinatorial rectangles
Consider the set $S$ of all $m\times m$ matrices with $0-1$ entries with exactly $T$ combinatorial rectangles of all $0$s or all $1$s that partition each matrix in a non-overlapping manner.
Is there ...
- 21
1
vote
0
answers
99
views
Minimum of the maximum element frequency given the family size and the universe size
[Crossposted at math.stackexchange].
Consider families of sets $\mathcal{F}$ with size $n = |\mathcal{F}|$ and universe $U(\mathcal{F})$ with size $q = |U(\mathcal{F})|$.
I have written and solved ...
- 990
1
vote
0
answers
63
views
Is there any other norms besides cut norm defined on graphon?
Let $\mathcal{W}$ denote the space of all bounded symmetric measurable functions
$W : [0, 1]^2 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}.$ For any $W\in\mathcal{W}$ we say it is a kernel and define its cut norm $\lVert ...
- 349
1
vote
0
answers
164
views
Combinatorial question related to Hankel-type matrices
Let $\mathbb{N}$ be the set of non-negative integers. Let $n\geq 2, d$ be positive integers. I would like a lower bound on the largest integer $r$ for which the following property holds:
For any ...
- 980
1
vote
0
answers
45
views
How small must partitions be to ensure overlapping blocks?
Consider the set family $F$ of all $t$-element subsets of $[n]$, for some positive integer $n$.
Let $P_1$ be a partition of $F$ into $k$ blocks.
Let $P_2 \ne P_1$ be another partition of $F$ into $k$ ...
1
vote
0
answers
110
views
Improved conjecture about partitions of the powerset without the empty set
This conjecture is similar to the previously disproved one, but more difficult.
For any partition $\mathcal{F}=\{\mathcal{A_1},\ldots,\mathcal{A_m} \}$ of the powerset without the empty set element $\...
- 990
1
vote
0
answers
63
views
Lower bound for the minimum of the maximum frequency of an element - with restrictions
Consider a family $\mathcal{F}$ of non-empty sets, with
$n=|\mathcal{F}|$ sets, $q=\left|\cup\mathcal{F}\right|$ elements in the universe, and $q\le n/4$.
It is known that of the $\binom{n}{2}$ ways ...
- 990
1
vote
0
answers
104
views
cone structure of complement of hyperplanes
I want to know if in $\mathbb{R}^{m+3}$ we consider the following hyperplanes:
\begin{cases}
(1-g)y-\sum_{i\in I}x_i=0, & \text{if $I\subset\{1,\cdots,m+2\}$},|I|=g\\
gy-\sum_{i\in I}x_i+\...
- 585
1
vote
0
answers
122
views
Probability puzzle on partitions
Consider a set $U$ of size $n$ and let $\mathcal{S}$ be the set of all $(n/2)$-subsets of $U$ (assume $n$ is divisible by 4). Let $P$ be a partition of $\mathcal{S}$ into $k$ blocks $B_1,\dots,B_k$.
...
- 11
1
vote
0
answers
104
views
Number of intersections that must occur in any partition of a given size
Let $\mathcal{S}$ be the set of all $n$-element subsets of $[2n]:=\{1,\dots,2n\}$.
Consider a partition $\mathcal{P}$ of $\mathcal{S}$ into $m$ blocks $P_1,\dots,P_m$, where all except at most one of ...
1
vote
0
answers
48
views
Inequality between union-closed families of sets and corresponding upward-closed families
This question is about an inequality for union-closed families of sets related to Frankl's conjecture and a result by Reimer. It relates the union-closed families and corresponding upward-closed ...
- 1,095
1
vote
0
answers
95
views
Maximum number of ways of splitting a set of points with an hyperplane
Given a set $S$ of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, let $D_S$ be the set
$\{\mathbf{v}=|\mathbf{u}-\mathbf{u'}|: \mathbf{u},\mathbf{u'}\in S\}$ (where $\forall i=1,2,\ldots, d$, $\mathbf{v}_i=|\mathbf{u}...
- 1,677
1
vote
0
answers
115
views
On the complexity of writing down matrices
Consider families of $0/1$ matrices in $\Bbb B$ where $1+1=1$:
$\mathcal M_{1,n,c}$ contains $2^n\times 2^n$ matrices that can be written as Hadamard product of $t=O(2^{(\log n)^c})$ matrices $$(J_n-...
- 13.9k
1
vote
0
answers
130
views
Expectation of a combinatorial extremal random variable?
Consider the finite set $\chi(D)$ of all sets of integer points in $\Bbb Z^n$ around origin which have distance at most $D$ from each other and pick a set $\mathcal P(D)$ from set of sets $\chi(D)$ ...
- 13.9k
1
vote
0
answers
138
views
Minimum rank of certain matrices
Let $\mathscr{M}[n]$ be collection of $n\times n$ matrices with real entries from $\{0,1\}$ such that every row is distinct and every column is distinct.
What is minimum real rank of matrices in $\...
- 13.9k