All Questions
4,825 questions
30
votes
3
answers
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Is there a subset of the plane that meets every line in two open intervals?
Using the Axiom of Choice, it is possible to construct a subset of the plane that meets every line in two points (these are called "$2$-point sets"). What if, instead of points, we ask for two open ...
- 18.5k
30
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Packing an upwards equilateral triangle efficiently by downwards equilateral triangles
Consider the problem of packing an upwards-pointing unit equilateral triangle "efficiently" by downwards-pointing equilateral triangles, where "efficiently" means that there is ...
- 114k
30
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Diameter of m-fold cover
Let $M$ be a closed Riemannian manifold.
Assume $\tilde M$ is a connected Riemannian $m$-fold cover of $M$.
Is it true that
$$\mathop{diam}\tilde M\le m\cdot \mathop{diam} M\ ?\ \ \ \ \ \ \ (*)$$
...
30
votes
2
answers
1k
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Shortest path through $\sqrt{n}$ points out of $n$
Say I sample $n$ points uniformly at random in the unit square, and then I look for the shortest path through $\sqrt{n}$ of those points (rounding up, say). What happens to the length of this path as ...
- 335
30
votes
0
answers
1k
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Curves on potatoes
On twitter recently, Robin Houston brought up this problem from a mathematical puzzle book of Peter Winkler:
The puzzle is attributed to the book "The mathemagician and pied puzzler", and ...
- 68.8k
30
votes
0
answers
747
views
Is there an Ehrhart polynomial for Gaussian integers
Let $N$ be a positive integer and let $P \subset \mathbb{C}$ be a polygon whose vertices are of the form $(a_1+b_1 i)/N$, $(a_2+b_2 i)/N$, ..., $(a_r+b_r i)/N$, with $a_j + b_j i$ being various ...
- 156k
29
votes
2
answers
1k
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Can a fixed finite-length straightedge and finite-size compass still construct all constructible points in the plane?
I am hoping that the brilliant MathOverflow geometers can help me out.
Question 1. Suppose that I have a fixed finite-length straightedge and fixed finite-size compass. Can I still construct all ...
- 236k
29
votes
2
answers
1k
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Is every closed curve in 3D a geodesic on a genus-0 surface?
Let $\gamma$ be a smooth, closed, unknotted curve embedded in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
Q. Does there always exist a smooth, embedded, genus-zero surface
$S \subset \mathbb{R}^3$
such that $\gamma$ is a (...
- 151k
29
votes
6
answers
8k
views
How to find a closest integer point to the intersection of two lines?
Here's a question that originates from StackOverflow.
Given are two lines on a plane, specified by equations ($a x + b y = c$) with integer coefficients. The lines aren't parallel and they don't ...
- 391
29
votes
1
answer
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views
High-Dimensional Analogs of Polygon Spaces
[Edit: I had a mistake in the numerology (took d=6,5 instead of d=5,4). Edit: I mistakenly identified my mistake, it is 6,5 but I got the indices shifted by one.]
Background: Polygon spaces
Given a ...
- 24.7k
29
votes
1
answer
812
views
Running most of the time in a connected set
Let $P$ be a compact connected set in the plane and $x,y\in P$.
Is it always possible to connect $x$ to $y$ by a path $\gamma$ such that the length of $\gamma\backslash P$ is arbitrary small?
...
- 45k
28
votes
6
answers
12k
views
Almost orthogonal vectors
This is to do with high dimensional geometry, which I'm always useless with. Suppose we have some large integer $n$ and some small $\epsilon>0$. Working in the unit sphere of $\mathbb R^n$ or $\...
- 18.7k
28
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Visibility of vertices in polyhedra
Suppose $P$ is a closed polyhedron in space (i.e. a union of polygons which is homeomorphic to $S^2$) and $X$ is an interior point of $P$. Is it true that $X$ can see at least one vertex of $P$? More ...
- 4,484
28
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Representability of finite metric spaces
There have been a couple questions recently regarding metric spaces, which got me thinking a bit about representation theorems for finite metric spaces.
Suppose $X$ is a set equipped with a metric $d$...
- 4,014
28
votes
12
answers
3k
views
Creating high quality figures of surfaces
I am not sure if this question is suitable for mo, it is more about visualization than math. Anyway, here it is:
What is the best way to visualize a 2-surface in Euclidean space with high quality?
...
28
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Rolle's theorem in n dimensions
This looks like a statement from a calculus textbook, which perhaps it should be.
"Rolle's theorem". Let $F\colon [a,b]\to\mathbb R^n$ be a continuous function such that $F(a)=F(b)$ and $F'(t)$ ...
28
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Probing a manifold with geodesics
Supposed you stand at a point $p \in M$ on a smooth 2-manifold $M$
embedded in $\mathbb{R}^3$.
You do not know anything about $M$.
You shoot off a geodesic $\gamma$ in some direction $u$,
and learn ...
- 151k
28
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Patterns among integer-distance points
Mark each point of $\mathbb{N}^2$ ($\mathbb{N}$ the natural numbers) if its
Euclidean distance from the origin is an integer. One obtains a plot like this, symmetric about the $45^\circ$ diagonal.
...
- 151k
28
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Convex hull in CAT(0)
Let $X$ be complete $\mathop{CAT}(0)$-space and $K\subset X$ be a compact subset.
Is it true that convex hull of $K$ is compact?
Comments:
Convex hull of $K$ = intersection of all closed convex sets ...
- 45k
28
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Does isometric immersion map boundary to boundary?
Let $M$ be a compact, connected, oriented, smooth Riemannian manifold with non-empty boundary. Let $f:M \to M$ be a smooth orientation preserving isometric immersion.
Is it true that $f(\partial M) \...
- 6,741
28
votes
3
answers
2k
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Is the ratio Perimeter/Area for a finite union of unit squares at most 4?
Update: As I have just learned, this is called Keleti's perimeter area conjecture.
Prove that if H is the union of a finite number of unit squares in the plane, then the ratio of the perimeter and ...
- 18.7k
28
votes
0
answers
546
views
Can every 3-dimensional convex body be trapped in a tetrahedral cage?
Can every 3-dimensional convex body be trapped in a tetrahedral cage?
Although the question is fairly unambiguous, I give all relevant definitions:
$\bullet$ A subset $C$ of $\mathbb{R}^n$ is an $n$-...
- 7,276
28
votes
0
answers
828
views
Blocking light with mirrored convex objects
There is a long-unsolved problem posed by Janos Pach,
sometimes known as the enchanted forest problem,
which asks if it is possible to block a point light source
in the plane
from reaching
infinity by ...
- 151k
27
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Is the matrix $\left({2m\choose 2j-i}\right)_{i,j=1}^{2m-1}$ nonsingular?
Suppose we have a $(2m-1) \times (2m-1)$ matrix defined as follows:
$$\left({2m\choose 2j-i}\right)_{i,j=1}^{2m-1}.$$
For example, if $m=3$, the matrix is
$$\begin{pmatrix}6 & 20 & 6& 0 ...
- 1,121
27
votes
3
answers
13k
views
Which unfoldings of the hypercube tile 3-space: How to check for isometric space-fillers?
Recently Mark McClure constructed and displayed
the 261 unfoldings of the hypercube (tesseract)
in response to the question,
"3D models of the unfoldings of the hypercube?":
The first 9 unfoldings ...
- 151k
27
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Is there a generalisation of the "sunflower spiral" to higher dimensions?
There is a well known pattern that turns up in nature involving the golden ratio $\phi = \frac{\sqrt{5}-1}{2}$.
(source)
To get this "sunflower spiral" pattern, put the $k$th ...
- 1,916
27
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Terrible tilers for covering the plane
Let $C$ be a convex shape in the plane.
Your task is to cover the plane with copies of $C$, each under any rigid motion.
My question is essentially: What is the worst $C$, the shape that forces the ...
- 151k
27
votes
6
answers
2k
views
When shorter means smaller?
Assume a convex figure $F\subset \mathbb R^2$ satisfies the following property: if $f:F\to \mathbb R^2$ is a distance-non-increasing map then its image $f(F)$ is congruent to a subset of $F$.
Is it ...
27
votes
1
answer
2k
views
The Eyeball Theorem generalized
I have not seen the 2D Eyeball Theorem—that tangents from the centers of two circles, each encompassing the other, intersect each circle in the same segment length—generalized to higher ...
- 151k
26
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Is Monsky's theorem dependent on the axiom of choice?
The extension of the 2-adic valuation to the reals used in the usual proof clearly uses AC. But is this really necessary? After all, given an equidissection in $n$ triangles, it is finite, so it ...
- 3,630
26
votes
7
answers
3k
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What's that shape? Inferring a 3D shape from random shadows
Let $P$ be a bounded, simply connected region of $\mathbb{R}^3$.
$P$ could be a polyhedron, or a smooth shape, or an arbitrary shape;
I'll assume below that $P$ is a (non-degenerate, perhaps non-...
- 151k
26
votes
7
answers
2k
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Tetrahedra with prescribed face angles
I am looking for an analogue for the following 2 dimensional fact:
Given 3 angles $\alpha,\beta,\gamma\in (0;\pi)$ there is always a triangle with these prescribed angles. It is spherical/euclidean/...
- 11.1k
26
votes
7
answers
10k
views
Uniformly Sampling from Convex Polytopes
How to choose a point uniformly from a convex polytope $P \subset [0,1]^n$ defined by some inequalities, $Ax < b$? (Here $A$ is an $m \times n$ matrix, $x \in \mathbb{R}^n$, and $b \in \mathbb{R}^...
- 22.8k
26
votes
6
answers
3k
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Easy proof of the fact that isotropic spaces are Euclidean
Let $X$ be a finite-dimensional Banach space whose isometry group acts transitively on the set of lines (or, equivalently, on the unit sphere: for every two unit-norm vectors $x,y\in X$ there exist a ...
- 32.4k
26
votes
2
answers
4k
views
3D models of the unfoldings of the hypercube?
There are (apparently) 261 distinct unfoldings of the 4D hypercube, a.k.a., the
tesseract, into 3D.1
These unfoldings (or "nets") are analogous to the 11 unfoldings of
the 3D cube into the plane.2
...
- 151k
26
votes
4
answers
4k
views
What is the "right" universal property of the completion of a metric space?
I'm a little embarrassed to ask this one, but it could help for a class I'm teaching, so here goes:
Let $X$ be a metric space. We all know that $X$ admits a completion, which is a complete metric ...
- 65.4k
26
votes
2
answers
2k
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On the global structure of the Gromov-Hausdorff metric space
This is a purely idle question, which emerged during a conversation with a friend about what is (not) known about the space of compact metric spaces. I originally asked this question at math....
- 21.2k
26
votes
2
answers
2k
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Ellipses on spheres (and other surfaces)
Define an ellipse $E$ on a sphere as the locus of points whose sum of
shortest geodesic distances to two foci $p_1$ and $p_2$ is a constant $d$.
There are conditions on $\{ p_1, p_2, d \}$ for this ...
- 151k
26
votes
2
answers
13k
views
Geometric interpretation of Cartan's structure equations
Given a linear connection on a Riemmanian manifold $M$ and $\phi^1,...,\phi^n$ a local frame for $T^*M$ we can define the connection 1-forms $\omega^j_i$. We define the curvature 2-forms by $\Omega_i^...
- 2,035
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votes
2
answers
2k
views
Why is the half-torus rigid?
The half-torus surface that results from slicing a torus like a bagel,
depicted below (left), is isometrically rigid.
I know this from a remark of Alexandrov in
Mathematics: Its ...
- 151k
26
votes
1
answer
846
views
Disc bounded by a plane curve
Let $\Sigma$ be a sphere topologically embedded into $\mathbb{R}^3$.
Is it always possible to find a disc $\Delta\subset\Sigma$ which is bounded by a plane curve?
It is easy to find an open disc ...
- 45k
26
votes
3
answers
11k
views
L1 distance between gaussian measures
L1 distance between gaussian measures: Definition
Let $P_1$ and $P_0$ be two gaussian measures on $\mathbb{R}^p$ with respective "mean,Variance" $m_1,C_1$ and $m_0,C_0$ (I assume matrices have full ...
- 833
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0
answers
359
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Can 4-space be partitioned into Klein bottles?
It is known that $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be partitioned into disjoint circles,
or into disjoint unit circles, or into congruent copies of a real-analytic curve
(Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ ...
- 151k
25
votes
5
answers
2k
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Covering a Cube with a Square
Suppose you are given a single unit square, and you would like to completely cover the surface
of a cube by cutting up the square and pasting it onto the cube's surface.
Q1. What is the largest ...
- 151k
25
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Is it possible for a metric on a smooth manifold to be smooth?
Are there any smooth manifolds $M$ with the following property:
There exist a realizing metric $d$ (i.e $d$ induces the topology on $M$), and $d$ is smooth on all of $M \times M$?
If not, is it ...
- 6,741
25
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Do random projections (approximately) preserve convexity?
The Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma implies that any set of $k$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ can be randomly projected into $d' \approx \log(k)/\epsilon^2$ dimensions such that the distances between each pair ...
- 253
25
votes
2
answers
2k
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Is there a continuous partition of space into circles?
Question 1. Is there a continuous partition of space $\mathbb{R}^3$ into circles?
I strongly suspect not.
It is well-known by diverse arguments that space can be partitioned into circles. There is an ...
- 236k
25
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Geometry of complex elliptic curves
Is there an elliptic curve in CP^2 whose induced Remannian metric ( induced from the Fubini-Sudy metric on CP^2) is Euclidian flat?
- 1,387
25
votes
3
answers
994
views
Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas?
Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas?
Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose edges ...
- 513
25
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Pinball on the infinite plane
Imagine pinball on the infinite plane, with every lattice
point $\mathbb{Z}^2$ a point pin.
The ball has radius $r < \frac{1}{2}$.
It starts just touching the origin pin, and shoots off at angle $\...
- 151k