Questions tagged [incidence-geometry]

Abstract incidence geometries like projective spaces, polar spaces, generalized polygons, as well as incidence problems in the real or complex Euclidean spaces (eg. Szemerédi–Trotter theorem).

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39 votes
2 answers
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How close can one get to the missing finite projective planes?

This question can be interpreted as an instance of the Zarankiewicz problem. Suppose we have an $n\times n$ matrix with entries in $\{0,1\}$ with no $\begin{pmatrix}1 & 1\\ 1& 1\end{pmatrix} $ ...
Gjergji Zaimi's user avatar
31 votes
2 answers
1k views

The Sylvester-Gallai theorem over $p$-adic fields

The famous Sylvester-Gallai theorem states that for any finite set $X$ of points in the plane $\mathbf{R}^2$, not all on a line, there is a line passing through exactly two points of $X$. What ...
François Brunault's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

A geometric series equalling a power of an integer

The following problem cropped up whilst considering generalised quadrangles with a product structure, and it boils down to a simple number theoretic problem. Let $s$ be an integer greater than 2 and ...
John Bamberg's user avatar
41 votes
2 answers
5k views

Projective Plane of Order 12

I asked this question on the new Theoretical Computer Science "overflow" site, and commenters suggested I ask it here. That question is here, and it contains additional links, which I doubt I can ...
Aaron Sterling's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why do all incidence theorems follow from Pappus' theorem?

In Hilbert and Cohn-Vossen's ``Geometry and the Imagination," they state in the last paragraph of Chapter 20 that "Any theorems concerned solely with incidence relations in the [Euclidean projective]...
aaron's user avatar
  • 378
15 votes
4 answers
900 views

Synthetic projective lines

The classical synthetic notion of projective plane consists of a set of points, a set of lines, and a relation of incidence between the two, such that any two distinct points lie on a unique line and ...
Mike Shulman's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
772 views

Blocking sets in three dimensional finite affine spaces

What is the smallest possible size of a set of points in $\mathbb{F}_q^3$ which intersects (blocks) every line? Clearly the union of three affine hyperplanes that intersect in a singleton, say $x = 0,...
Anurag's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
423 views

When is a 0-1 matrix a one-intersection incidence matrix?

The following problem is what motivated my previous MO question. It is easily seen that for any given 0-1 matrix $M$, one can always find a set $\mathcal P$ of points, and a set $\mathcal C$ of simple ...
Seva's user avatar
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5 votes
5 answers
545 views

Is every uniform hyperbolic linear space infinite?

I start with definitions. Definition 1. A linear space is a pair $(X,\mathcal L)$ consisting of a set $X$ and a family $\mathcal L$ of subsets of $X$ satisfying three axioms: (L1) for any distinct ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
74 views

Injective choice function for finite Fano planes

Let $H=(V,E)$ be a hypergraph that is a finite Fano plane, that is, $V$ is a finite set and $E$ has the following properties: for $e_1\neq e_2\in E$ we have $|e_1|=|e_2|$, as well as $|e_1\cap e_2|=1$...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
266 views

Perfect matchings in infinite regular bipartite graphs

This question was motivated by a discussion here and is related to a previous question here. Let $\kappa$ and $\lambda$ be cardinals such that $0<\lambda\leq \kappa$. Let $G=(A\cup B, E)$ be a ...
Louis D's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
724 views

Is the sumset or the sumset of the square set always large?

Let A be a finite subset of $\mathbb{N}$, $\mathbb{R}$, or a sufficiently small subset of $\mathbb{F}_{p}$. Do we have a lower bound of the form $|A|^{1+\delta}$ on the following quantity: $$\max (|\...
Mark Lewko's user avatar
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