All Questions
4,825 questions
124
votes
37
answers
12k
views
One-step problems in geometry
I'm collecting advanced exercises in geometry. Ideally, each exercise should be solved by one trick and this trick should be useful elsewhere (say it gives an essential idea in some theory).
If you ...
102
votes
6
answers
11k
views
Is there an analogue of curvature in algebraic geometry?
I am not an expert, but there seems to be an enormous technical difference between algebraic geometry and differential/metric geometry stemming from the fact that there is apparently no such thing as ...
- 29.2k
100
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Light rays bouncing in twisted tubes
Imagine a smooth curve $c$ sweeping out a unit-radius disk that is
orthogonal to the curve at every point.
Call the result a tube.
I want to restrict the radius of curvature of $c$ to be at most 1.
I ...
- 151k
99
votes
7
answers
20k
views
Can we cover the unit square by these rectangles?
The following question was a research exercise (i.e. an open problem) in R. Graham, D.E. Knuth, and O. Patashnik, "Concrete Mathematics", 1988, chapter 1.
It is easy to show that
$$\sum_{1 \...
- 5,502
97
votes
11
answers
13k
views
Is it possible to capture a sphere in a knot?
You and I decide to play a game:
To start off with, I provide you with a frictionless, perfectly spherical sphere, along with a frictionless, unstretchable, infinitely thin magical rope. This rope ...
- 8,688
96
votes
4
answers
5k
views
A curious relation between angles and lengths of edges of a tetrahedron
Consider a Euclidean tetrahedron with lengths of edges
$$
l_{12}, l_{13}, l_{14}, l_{23}, l_{24}, l_{34}
$$
and dihedral angles
$$
\alpha_{12}, \alpha_{13}, \alpha_{14},
\alpha_{23}, \alpha_{24}, \...
- 4,316
94
votes
5
answers
9k
views
Is there a dense subset of the real plane with all pairwise distances rational?
I heard the following two questions recently from Carl Mummert, who encouraged me to spread them around. Part of his motivation for the questions was to give the subject of computable model theory ...
- 236k
94
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Volumes of sets of constant width in high dimensions
Background
The $n$-dimensional Euclidean ball of radius $1/2$ has width $1$ in every direction. Namely, when you consider a pair of parallel tangent hyperplanes in any direction the distance between ...
- 24.7k
90
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Does this property characterize straight lines in the plane?
Take a plane curve $\gamma$ and a disk of fixed radius whose center moves along $\gamma$. Suppose that $\gamma$ always cuts the disk in two simply connected regions of equal area. Is it true that $\...
- 4,459
88
votes
4
answers
11k
views
Is the sphere the only surface with circular projections? Or: Can we deduce a spherical Earth by observing that its shadows on the Moon are circular?
Several ancient arguments suggest a curved Earth, such as
the observation that ships disappear mast-last over the
horizon, and
Eratosthenes'
surprisingly accurate calculation of the size of the
Earth
...
- 236k
88
votes
2
answers
7k
views
80
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Converse to Euclid's fifth postulate
There is a fascinating open problem in Riemannian Geometry which I would like to advertise here because I do not think that it is as well-known as it deserves to be. Euclid's famous fifth postulate, ...
- 7,149
73
votes
10
answers
11k
views
Riemannian surfaces with an explicit distance function?
I'm looking for explicit examples of Riemannian surfaces (two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds $(M,g)$) for which the distance function d(x,y) can be given explicitly in terms of local coordinates of ...
- 114k
70
votes
4
answers
11k
views
$C^1$ isometric embedding of flat torus into $\mathbb{R}^3$
I read (in a paper by Emil Saucan) that the flat torus may be isometrically embedded
in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with a $C^1$ map by the Kuiper extension of the Nash Embedding Theorem,
a claim repeated in this ...
- 151k
68
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Continuous maps which send intervals of $\mathbb{R}$ to convex subsets of $\mathbb{R}^2$
Let $f : \mathbb{R} \longrightarrow \mathbb{R}^2$ be a continuous map which sends any interval $I \subseteq \mathbb{R}$ to a convex subset $f(I)$ of $\mathbb{R}^2$. Is it true that there must be a ...
- 629
65
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Tying knots with reflecting lightrays
Let a lightray bounce around inside a cube whose faces
are (internal) mirrors.
If its slopes are rational, it will eventually form a cycle.
For example, starting with a point $p_0$ in the interior
of ...
65
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How many unit cylinders can touch a unit ball?
What is the maximum number $k$ of unit radius, infinitely long cylinders with mutually disjoint interiors that can touch a unit ball?
By a cylinder I mean a set congruent to the Cartesian product of ...
- 7,276
64
votes
6
answers
5k
views
Shortest closed curve to inspect a sphere
Let $S$ be a sphere in $\mathbb{R}^3$. Let $C$ be a closed curve in $\mathbb{R}^3$ disjoint from and
exterior to $S$
which has the property that every point $x$ on $S$ is visible to some point $y$ of $...
- 151k
63
votes
8
answers
14k
views
Fair but irregular polyhedral dice
I am interested in determining a collection of geometric conditions that will guarantee that a convex polyhedron
of $n$ faces is a fair die in the sense that, upon random rolling, it has an equal $1/n$...
- 151k
62
votes
7
answers
26k
views
Is the Jaccard distance a distance?
Wikipedia defines the Jaccard distance between sets A and B as $$J_\delta(A,B)=1-\frac{|A\cap B|}{|A\cup B|}.$$ There's also a book claiming that this is a metric. However, I couldn't find any ...
- 1,355
61
votes
11
answers
11k
views
Geometric proof of the Vandermonde determinant?
The Vandermonde matrix is the $n\times n$ matrix whose $(i,j)$-th component is $x_j^{i-1}$, where the $x_j$ are indeterminates. It is well known that the determinant of this matrix is $$\prod_{1\leq ...
- 23k
60
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Does this geometry theorem have a name?
Start with a circle and draw two tangent circles inside. The (black) inner tangent lines to the smaller circles intersect the large circle. The (red) lines through these intersection points are ...
- 509
60
votes
1
answer
7k
views
Probability that a stick randomly broken in five places can form a tetrahedron
Edit (June 2015): Addressing this problem is a brief project report from the Illinois Geometry Lab (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), dated May 2015, that appears here along with a foot-...
- 7,831
58
votes
14
answers
19k
views
Open problems in Euclidean geometry?
What are some (research level) open problems in Euclidean geometry ?
(Edit: I ask just out of curiosity, to understand how -and if- nowadays this is not a "dead" field yet)
I should clarify a bit ...
55
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ into unit circles?
Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ into unit circles?
- 1,414
54
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Sheaves and bundles in differential geometry
Because the theory of sheaves is a functorial theory, it has been adopted in algebraic geometry (both using the functor of points approach and the locally ringed space approach) as the "main theory" ...
- 19.6k
54
votes
3
answers
3k
views
The view from inside of a mirrored tetrahedron
Suppose you were standing inside a regular tetrahedron $T$ whose
internal face surfaces were perfect mirrors.
Let's assume $T$'s height is $3{\times}$ yours, so that your
eye is roughly at the ...
- 151k
52
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Is the "Napkin conjecture" open? (origami)
The falsity of the following conjecture would be a nice counter-intuitive fact.
Given a square sheet of perimeter $P$, when folding it along origami moves, you end up with some polygonal flat figure ...
- 1,306
51
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Can the sphere be partitioned into small congruent cells?
On the unit $2$-sphere ${\mathbb S}^2$ furnished with the geodesic distance, a subset homeomorphic to a planar disk is called a cell. A finite family of cells is a tiling if their interiors are ...
- 7,276
51
votes
4
answers
7k
views
what-if.xkcd.com: stabbing (simply connected) regions on the 2-sphere with few geodesics
In the latest what-if Randall Munroe ask for the smallest number of geodesics that intersect all regions of a map. The following shows that five paths of satellites suffice to cover the 50 states of ...
- 10.7k
50
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Is there an algebraic approach to metric spaces?
It is well known that most topological spaces can be studied via their algebra of continuous real-valued (or complex-valued) functions. For instance, in the setting of compact Hausdorff spaces, there ...
- 4,874
50
votes
4
answers
6k
views
The maximum of a polynomial on the unit circle
Encouraged by the progress made in a recently posted MO problem, here is a "conceptually related" problem originating from a 2003 joint paper of Sergei Konyagin and myself.
Suppose we are given $n$ ...
- 23k
50
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Explicit metrics
Every surface admits metrics of constant curvature, but there is usually a disconnect between
these metrics, the shapes of ordinary objects, and typical mathematical drawings of surfaces.
Can ...
- 25.1k
49
votes
4
answers
12k
views
Volumes of n-balls: what is so special about n=5?
I am reposting this question from math.stackexchange where it has not yet generated an answer I had been looking for.
The volume of an $n$-dimensional ball of radius $R$ is given by the classical ...
- 22.3k
49
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Is Lebesgue's "universal covering" problem still open?
The following problem has been attributed to Lebesgue. Let "set" denote any subset of the Euclidean plane. What is the greatest lower bound of the diameter of any set which contains a subset congruent ...
- 6,215
49
votes
4
answers
4k
views
What fraction of the integer lattice can be seen from the origin?
Consider the integer lattice points in the positive quadrant $Q$ of $\mathbb{Z}^2$.
Say that a point $(x,y)$ of $Q$ is visible from the origin if the
segment from $(0,0)$ to $(x,y) \in Q$ passes ...
- 151k
49
votes
5
answers
3k
views
If a unitsquare is partitioned into 101 triangles, is the area of one at least 1%?
Update: The answer to the title question is no, as pointed out by Tapio and Willie. I would be more interested in lower bounds.
Monsky's famous theorem with amazingly tricky proof says that if we ...
- 18.7k
49
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What happens if you strip everything but the “between” relation in metric spaces
Given a metric space $(X,d)$ and three points $x,y,z$ in $X$, say that $y$ is between $x$ and $z$ if $d(x,z) = d(x,y) + d(y,z)$, and write $[x,z]$ for the set of points between $x$ and $z$.
Obviously,...
- 887
49
votes
0
answers
3k
views
Concerning proofs from the axiom of choice that ℝ³ admits surprising geometrical decompositions: Can we prove there is no Borel decomposition?
This question follows up on a comment I made on Joseph O'Rourke's
recent question, one of several questions here on mathoverflow
concerning surprising geometric partitions of space using the axiom
of ...
- 236k
47
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Intuitive proof that the first $(n-2)$ coordinates on a sphere are uniform in a ball
It is a classical fact that if $(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ is a random vector uniformly distributed on the sphere $S^{n-1} \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$, then the random vector $(x_1,\ldots,x_{n-2})$ is uniformly ...
- 11.4k
47
votes
3
answers
3k
views
A metric characterization of the real line
Is the following metric characterization of the real line true (and known)?
A nonempty complete metric space $(X,d)$ is isometric to the real line if and only if for every $c\in X$ and positive real ...
- 41.8k
45
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Rolling a random walk on a sphere
A ball rolls down an inclined plane, encountering horizontal obstacles, at which it
rolls left/right with equal probability. There are regularly spaced staggered gaps that let the ball
roll down to ...
- 151k
45
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Can the fugitive escape?
A fugitive is surrounded by $N$ police officers, with the nearest one at distance $1$ away. The fugitive and the officers move alternatively.
In a fugitive move, the fugitive can travel no more than ...
- 2,619
45
votes
1
answer
3k
views
two tetrahedra in $\mathbb R^4$
It is relatively easy to show (see below) that if we have two equilateral triangles of side 1 in $\mathbb R^3$,
such that their union has diameter $1,$ then they must share a vertex.
I wonder whether ...
- 1,359
45
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Pach's "Animals": What if the genus is positive?
Janos Pach asked a deep question 23 years ago (1988) that remains unsolved today:
Can every animal—a topological ball in $\mathbb{R^3}$ composed of unit cubes glued face-to-face—be ...
- 151k
44
votes
11
answers
26k
views
Algorithm for finding the volume of a convex polytope
It's easy to find the area of a convex polygon by division into triangles, but what is the optimal way of finding the volume of higher-dimensional convex bodies? I tried a few methods for dividing ...
- 441
44
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Is there an elementary proof that distal maps are invertible?
Let $T: X \to X$ be a continuous map on a compact metric space $X$. We say $T$ is distal if $\inf_n d(T^n x, T^n y) = 0$ implies $x = y$.
Then it is true that $T$ is bijective.
Question: Is there an ...
- 6,155
43
votes
12
answers
2k
views
Can a discrete set of the plane of uniform density intersect all large triangles?
Let S be a discrete subset of the Euclidean plane such that the number of points in a large disc is approximately equal to the area of the disc. Does the complement of S necessarily contain triangles ...
- 17.9k
43
votes
0
answers
819
views
A kaleidoscopic coloring of the plane
Problem. Is there a partition $\mathbb R^2=A\sqcup B$ of the Euclidean plane into two Lebesgue measurable sets such that for any disk $D$ of the unit radius we get $\lambda(A\cap D)=\lambda(B\cap D)=\...
- 41.8k
42
votes
10
answers
5k
views
Is there a mathematical axiomatization of time (other than, perhaps, entropy)?
Since Euclid's axiomatization of space, we have developed a sophisticated mathematical model of space. Given a category of structures (measures), local space is modeled the spectrum of measurements ...