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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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
39 votes
2 answers
1k views

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
32 votes
0 answers
1k views

Minimal number of intersections in a convex $n$-gon?

For a convex polygon $P$, draw all the diagonals of $P$ and consider the intersection points made by those diagonals. Let $f(n)$ be the minimal number of such intersections where $P$ ranges over all ...
Dongryul Kim's user avatar
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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
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
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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
16 votes
3 answers
1k views

Fano plane drawings: embedding PG(2,2) into the real plane

By a drawing of the Fano plane I mean a system of seven simple curves and seven points in the real plane such that every point lies on exactly three curves, and every curve contains exactly three ...
Seva's user avatar
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16 votes
1 answer
383 views

Geometric interpretation of the exceptional isomorphism $PSp(4,3)=PSU(4,2^2)$

It is well-known that there is an isomorphism between $PSp(4,3)$ (the symplectic group of dimension $4$ over $\mathbb F_3$) and $PSU(4,2^2)$ (the unitary group defined by $4\times4$ unitary matrices ...
LeechLattice's user avatar
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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
14 votes
0 answers
548 views

Who conjectured that a transitive projective plane is Desarguesian?

The only known finite projective plane with a transitive automorphism group is the Desarguesian plane $PG(2,q)$ and it seems likely that there are no others, although this is not (quite) proved. ...
Gordon Royle's user avatar
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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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11 votes
3 answers
541 views

Was the small Desargues Theorem known to ancient Greeks?

My question concerns the classical Desargues Theorem and its simplest version The small Desargues Theorem: Let $A$, $B$, $C$ be three distinct parallel lines and $a,a'\in A$, $b,b'\in B$, $c,c'\in C$,...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
372 views

Does every finite affine plane have the doubling property?

Definition 1. An affine plane is a pair $(X,\mathcal L)$ consisting of a set $X$ and a family $\mathcal L$ of subsets of $X$ called lines which satisfy the following axioms: Any distinct points $x,y\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
374 views

About the paper by Buekenhout, Delandtsheer, Doyen, Kleidman, Liebeck and Saxl

The paper by Buekenhout, Delandtsheer, Doyen, Kleidman, Liebeck and Saxl called Linear spaces with flag transitive automorphism groups (Geom. Dedicata) from 1990 annonces a very powerful ...
Pierre's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
486 views

Subplanes of Finite Projective Planes

If a finite projective plane $\pi_1$ of order $m$ contains, as a sub plane, a finite projective plane $\pi_2$ of order $n$, then $m \geq n^2$ with equality holding only in the case of a Baer sub plane....
Geoffrey Exoo's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
225 views

Projective planes over non-division rings

Is there a "right" notion of a projective plane over a general (unital, non-division) ring? Let me explain what type of object I am looking for. Let $R$ be an arbitrary (not necessarily ...
Anton Izosimov's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
327 views

Is the group of translations of an affine plane always commutative?

$\DeclareMathOperator\Dil{Dil}\DeclareMathOperator\Trans{Trans}\DeclareMathOperator\Col{Col}$An affine plane is a set of points $X$ endowed with a family $\mathcal L$ of subsets of $X$, called lines, ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
362 views

Does the Affine Pappus Axiom imply the Affine Desargues Axiom in affine planes?

I am interested in the affine version of the well-known Hessenberg's Theorem (saying that Pappian projective planes are Desarguesian). First I introduce all necessary definitions. Definition L. A ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
371 views

Generalized geometries

Let $S$ be a non-empty set. A geometry of type $n$ for $n\geq 1$ on $S$ (consisting of at least $n$ elements) is a set ${\mathfrak P}\subseteq {\mathcal P}(S)$ such that all members of $\mathfrak P$ ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
967 views

Incidence geometry and matrices

Supposing I have a $0/1$ or $\pm1$ matrix $A$ of size $m\times n$, is there a minimum $d$ (that works for every $m\times n$ $A$) such that there exists $m$ lines $r_1,\dots,r_m$, $n$ lines $s_1,\dots,...
Turbo's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
237 views

A vertical line with many intersections with $n$ non-parallel lines

Pick $n\ge 3$ non-vertical lines $\mathscr{L}:=\{\ell_1,\ldots,\ell_n\}$ in the plane which are pairwise non-parallel, and they are not all concurrent in a single point. Question. Does there exist a ...
Paolo Leonetti's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
413 views

A rank 3 geometry for the sporadic simple group of Suzuki

I am actually studying coset geometries (in the sense of Tits and Buekenhout) for the sporadic simple group of Suzuki. I came aware that Buekenhout found in 1979 a geometry over the following diagram ...
Thomas Connor's user avatar
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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7 votes
1 answer
324 views

A corollary of the affine Desargues axiom

Definition 1. An affine plane is a pair $(X,\mathcal L)$ consisting of a set $X$ and a family $\mathcal L$ of subsets of $X$ called lines which satisfy the following axioms: Any distinct points $x,y\...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
  • 40.8k
7 votes
1 answer
307 views

Can one axiomatize projective lines using the cross-ratio?

I known axiomatizations of projective spaces of dimension > 2 and also of projective planes (either those obeying the axiom of Pappus, which come from fields, or those obeying the axiom of Desargues, ...
John Baez's user avatar
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7 votes
0 answers
270 views

What are $(m,n)$-pseudoplanes?

An incidence geometry is a set $P$ (the "points"), a set $L$ (the "lines"), and a relation $I\subseteq P\times L$ ("incidence"). Equivalently, a bipartite graph with the halves of the partition ...
Alex Kruckman's user avatar
7 votes
0 answers
122 views

Points on $k$ Circles

Let $k$ be a fixed positive integer. We want to find the minimum number $f(k)$, such that for a set of finite points in the plane, if any $f(k)$ of them are on $k$ circles, then all of them are on $k$ ...
Morteza's user avatar
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6 votes
4 answers
1k views

Is the theory of incidence geometry complete?

Consider the basic axioms of planar incidence geometry, which allow us to speak of in-betweeness, collinearity and concurrency. These axioms per se are not complete, since for example, Desargues ...
user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
967 views

On the joints problem in finite fields

The original version of the so-called "joints problem" consists of the following: Let $L$ be a set of lines in $\mathbb{R}^{3}$. Determine the maximum number of "joints" determined by these lines, ...
Cosmin Pohoata's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
668 views

Reference on the Veblen-Young characterization of projective spaces

Can someone point me to a modern treatment of the Veblen-Young characterization of projective spaces of dimension greater than $2$ as $P(V)$ for some vector space $V$? [Added: see here for a ...
Mariano Suárez-Álvarez's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
159 views

Point-line incidence bounds over positive characteristic fields

I am aware of work on point-line incidence bounds over $\mathbb{R}$, $\mathbb{C}$, and finite fields, in particular various versions of the Szemeredi-Trotter bounds. I would like to know if work along ...
Erik Walsberg's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
442 views

Applications of small Kakeya sets over finite fields

It was proved by Dvir that a Kakeya set in $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ has size at least $q^n/n!$, a bound which was later improved to $q^n/2^n$. For $n = 2$ and $q$ odd the exact bound is $q(q+1)/2 + (q-1)/2$ ...
Anurag's user avatar
  • 1,157
6 votes
1 answer
283 views

Does any real projective plane incidence theorem follow from axioms?

Is it known whether any projective geometry statement that holds true in the real projective plane (equivalently, can be deduced from Hilbert axioms) follows from the standard projective axiomatics? ...
R. Matveev's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Geometric interpretation of $BN$-pairs

My question is relative to a geometric interpretation of the $BN$-pairs that arise in Tits' theory of buildings. Here is a definition that comes from an article by G. Stroth (Nonspherical spheres). $[...
Thomas Connor's user avatar
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
  • 40.8k
5 votes
1 answer
399 views

Can all lines in the euclidian plane be ordinary?

Is there a set $X \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ such that every straight line in the plane is ordinary in relation to it? i.e. if $r$ is any straight line then $|r \cap X|=2$.
Rígille S. B. Menezes's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
304 views

Which finite projective planes can have a symmetric incidence matrix?

As the title says. Which finite projective planes admit a symmetric incidence matrix? I am not an expert in the field at all, but I consulted with one. He claimed that $PG(2, \mathbb F_q)$ can always ...
Adelhart's user avatar
  • 227
5 votes
1 answer
415 views

How many squares can be formed by $n$ points in general position in the plane?

[This is much in the spirit (but different from) the questions from different posters: How many squares can be formed by using n points? and How many squares can be formed by using n points: revisited?...
Mark Lewko's user avatar
  • 11.7k
5 votes
1 answer
153 views

Parallel lines containing a subset with even cardinality

For each $\alpha \in \mathbf{R}\cup \{\infty\}$, let $\mathscr{L}_\alpha$ denote the collection of lines $\ell$ of $\mathbf{R}^2$ with slope $\alpha$. More explicitly: if $\alpha \in \mathbf{R}$, then ...
Paolo Leonetti's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
115 views

What (if anything) is the connection between the Feit-Higman Theorem and the regular plane tilings?

Here are two facts that are superficially similar. Tiling Theorem: The only regular tilings of $\mathbb{R}^2$ are achieved by triangles, squares, and hexagons. Feit-Higman Theorem: The only finite ...
GMB's user avatar
  • 1,379
5 votes
0 answers
89 views

Lines meeting a given set in a unique point

Let $p$ be a fixed prime, and suppose that $S$ is a subset of the affine plane $\mathbb F_p^2$. If $|S|\le p+1$, then by the pigeonhole principle, through any given point $s\in S$ there is a line $L=L(...
Seva's user avatar
  • 22.8k
4 votes
1 answer
317 views

Planar sets closed under intersection of circles

Let $P$ be the plane with a point at infinity. By plane, I mean the Euclidian plane, and therefore it has circles. A line is also a circle, though its center is at infinity. If $A\subset P$ has ...
Denis Serre's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
782 views

What is the automorphism group of this geometry?

Define the following incidence structure of rank three. The points are the elements of $\mathbb{Z}_7=$ {$0,\ldots,6$}. The lines of type 1 are the triples $(x,x+1,x+3)$ modulo $7$. The lines of type 2 ...
Thomas Connor's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
545 views

Why should it be hard to generalize Dvir's proof of the finite field Kakeya conjecture to the Euclidean case?

Let $q$ be prime and let $q\delta \sim 1.$ Let $K$ be any set of $C_n\delta$-separated tubes in $B(0,2)$, where $C_n$ is some constant depending on $n$. Let us consider a grid of $q^n$ points scaled ...
Johan Aspegren's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
731 views

Does there exist a finite hyperbolic geometry in which every line contains at least 3 points, but not every line contains the same number of points?

It seems to me that the answer should be yes, but my naive attempts to come up with an example have failed. Just to clarify, by finite hyperbolic geometry I mean a finite set of points and lines such ...
Louis D's user avatar
  • 1,666
4 votes
1 answer
155 views

Are two "perfectly dense" hypergraphs on $\mathbb{N}$ necessarily isomorphic?

We say that a hypergraph $(\mathbb{N}, E)$ where $E\subseteq {\cal P}(\mathbb N)$ is perfectly dense if $\mathbb{N}\notin E$, all $e\in E$ are infinite, $e_1, e_2 \in E$ implies $|e_1\cap e_2| = 1$,...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
449 views

Covering all, but $k$ points with affine subspaces

For non-negative integer $d\le n$ and $k\le 2^n$, how many affine subspaces of co-dimension $d$ are needed to cover all, but exactly $k$ elements of the vector space ${\mathbb F}_2^n$, and what are ...
Seva's user avatar
  • 22.8k
4 votes
0 answers
111 views

Projective planes over algebraically closed fields

Suppose I am given a projective plane $P \cong \mathbb{P}^2(k)$ over a (commutative) field $k$. With "projective plane," I mean the point-line geometry (and not, for instance, the scheme): $...
THC's user avatar
  • 4,313
4 votes
0 answers
100 views

Bounds on k-tuple points for intersections of hyperplanes

Suppose that $H_1$,...,$H_d$ are hyperplanes in $\mathbb P^n$ (over some field -- you can pick). For $k \geq n$, let $t_k$ denote the number of points through which there pass exactly $k$ hyperplanes....
J L's user avatar
  • 41
4 votes
0 answers
443 views

Intersection of pencils in $\mathcal{R}^2$

Consider $9n$ pencils through non-collinear points $p_1, \ldots , p_{9n}$ in $R^2$ each consisting of at most $n$ concurrent lines. Define the intersection $S$ of these pencils to be the set of points ...
Sukhada Fadnavis's user avatar