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5 votes
2 answers
307 views

Tiling a Jordan polygon

I saw this problem some years ago, don't remember the source: Let $P$ be a Jordan polygon (i.e. the only points of the plane belonging to two edges are the polygon vertices) that can be tiled with ...
jack's user avatar
  • 3,153
15 votes
2 answers
863 views

Three squares in a rectangle

One of my colleagues gave me the following problem about 15 years ago: Given three squares inside a 1 by 2 rectangle, with no two squares overlapping, prove that the sum of side lengths is at most 2. (...
udaque's user avatar
  • 153
6 votes
2 answers
546 views

On circles and ellipses drawn on an infinite planar square lattice

Consider a plane with a square lattice formed by all points with both coordinates as integers. As can be easily seen, a simple parabola can be found that passes through infinitely many of the square ...
Nandakumar R's user avatar
  • 5,979
10 votes
2 answers
280 views

Monochromatic point sets in two-colored plane

Which are the configrations $P\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ of points, such that the following property holds: Property M (for Monochromatic): Every two-coloring of $\mathbb{R}^2$ contains a monochromatic ...
Moritz Firsching's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
400 views

Geometric dominating set: NP-complete?

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a geometric graph, a graph embedded in the plane whose edge lengths are the Euclidean distance between its endpoint vertices. Say that a set of vertices $D \subseteq V$ is a geometric ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
530 views

Inside-out polygonal dissections

A dissection of a polygon $P$ is a partition of $P$ into a finite number of pieces, which can then be rearranged (via planar translations and rotations) and joined (without overlap) to form a new ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
878 views

Sets of evenly distributed points in the Euclidean plane

Is there a set $P \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ of points in the Euclidean plane whose intersection with every convex subset of $\mathbb{R}^2$ of area $1$ is nonempty but finite? If the answer is yes, can $P$...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.6k
2 votes
2 answers
284 views

Three questions concerning lattice points on sphere surfaces

Pardon my ignorance of this topic. Q1. In which dimensions $d$ is it the case that, for every natural number $n$, there exists a sphere having exactly $n$ lattice points on it $(d{-}1)$-...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
458 views

The sparsest planar net that captures every unit segment

Let $\cal C = \lbrace C_i \rbrace$ be a collection of rectifiable curves in the plane with the property that every unit-length segment meets at least one curve in at least one point. Call such a ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Optimal wireframe sphere

Suppose you have a length $L$ of metal pipe at your disposal, and you would like to build a wireframe unit-radius sphere, by bending, cutting, and welding the pipe into a connected structure $F$. Your ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
1k views

Interpolating points with minimum curvature constraint

I have $n$ points $p_i$ strictly interior to a rectangle $R$, and I would like to connect them with a curve $C$ whose curvature is as low as possible. Let $\kappa_\max(C)$ be the sharpest (largest ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar