All Questions
10 questions
3
votes
1
answer
94
views
Convex polygon shadows: Shortest equivalent segments
Let $P$ be a convex polygon.
Q1. What is the shortest collection of line segments $S$ inside $P$
with the property that both $P$ and $S$ have the same sequence of orthogonal shadows
as $P$ and $S$ ...
- 151k
9
votes
2
answers
310
views
Generalized figures of constant width
Is it known which plane figures $Q$ can rotate touching three given circles $A$, $B$, and $C$?
This question was asked by Lazar Lyusternik in 1946, there is only one reference to this paper that ...
- 45k
22
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Equilaterally triangulated surfaces with prescribed boundary
There is a problem in Richard Kenyon's list (Wayback Machine) which I would like to post here, because although I have thought about it from time to time, I have not been able to make the slightest ...
- 7,194
7
votes
1
answer
439
views
Integral straight-line embeddings of planar graphs
Wikipedia says (in the article on Fáry's theorem),
"Heiko Harborth raised the question of whether every planar graph has a straight line representation in which all edge lengths are integers. The ...
- 151k
11
votes
1
answer
424
views
Needle probing for a convex body
Suppose there is an unknown closed convex body $K$ of
volume vol$(K) = V$ inside the
unit cube $[-\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}]^d$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$.
You are permitted to probe with a (one-dimensional)
...
- 151k
16
votes
1
answer
774
views
Minimizing the excursion of a sum of unit vectors
I have $n$ unit-length vectors $v_i$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$, whose
sum is zero:
$$ v_1 + v_2 + \cdots + v_n = 0 \; .$$
Now I form the closed polygon $P$ in space by placing them head to tail.
So the ...
- 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
28
votes
3
answers
2k
views
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 ...
- 19k
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 ...
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