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Questions tagged [mg.metric-geometry]

Euclidean, hyperbolic, discrete, convex, coarse geometry, metric spaces, comparisons in Riemannian geometry, symmetric spaces.

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Integrating a simple exponential over the space of matrices that define a metric

I want to interpret an $n\times n$ matrix $D$ as a set of pairwise distances, and assume that $D$ obeys metric properties. Namely, $D_{ii} = 0$, $D_{ij} \geq 0$, $D_{ij} = D_{ji}$ and $D_{ij} \leq D_{...
hal iii's user avatar
  • 147
9 votes
1 answer
338 views

Visibility in a growing orchard

This is a variant on Polya's orchard problem.1,2 Suppose trees are planted randomly in the plane. The question is: How many trees are visible from the origin as their radii grow? More precisely, ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
254 views

Shape rotate, intersect; repeat: disk or empty set?

This question concerns a process that iterates intersection of randomly rotated planar shapes. Start with a simply connected region $R_0$ in the plane, and let $c_0$ be the centroid of $R_0$. Rotate $...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
206 views

Geometry of the positive definite cone, versus homogenization of elliptic PDEs

Homogenization is a process that assigns to a positive definite-valued map $x\mapsto S(x)$ a non-trivial but physically meaningful average $\bar S$. There are various settings, for instance stochastic ...
Denis Serre's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
523 views

Choosing $K$ "centers" from the space of permutations

Let $\Pi$ denote the space of all permutations of $\{1,\dots,n\}$, and let $d(\cdot,\cdot)$ be a metric on $\Pi$. Suppose I am given a large integer $K$ and I have to select $K$ permutations $\pi_1,\...
Tom Solberg's user avatar
  • 4,049
9 votes
2 answers
519 views

The fraction of the sphere a fixed distance from a subspace

The following problem has a beautiful geometric interpretation in terms of the proportion of points on the Euclidean sphere in $\mathbb{R}^d$ that lie at least a certain distance away from a $k$-...
jat's user avatar
  • 91
9 votes
2 answers
674 views

Small crown probabilities (and infinite dimensional margin assumption)

My question is: How do I find sharp upper bounds on $P(|q|\leq \epsilon)$ uniformly over a set of gaussian polynomes $q$ of degree two. Notations and definitions (to make the question rigorous) Let ...
9 votes
0 answers
144 views

Which polytopes have compact realization spaces?

Let $P\subset\Bbb R^d$ be a convex polytope. Its reduced realization space is the space of all combinatorially equivalent polytopes modulo projective transformations. I am interested in polytopes for ...
M. Winter's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
243 views

Does there exist such a probability distribution?

Does there exist a probability distribution over the set $\{(x,y,z)\in[0,1]^3\colon x+y+z=3/2\}$ whose projection on each of the three coordinate axes is the uniform distribution over the interval $[0,...
Iosif Pinelis's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
205 views

Placing triangles around a central triangle: Optimal Strategy?

This question has gone for a while without an answer on MSE (despite a bounty that came and went) so I am now cross-posting it here, on MO, in the hope that someone may have an idea about how to ...
Benjamin Dickman's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
187 views

Cubing the cube - as 'perfectly' as possible

Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaring_the_square A perfect cubing of a cube is a partition of the cube into some finite number of smaller cubes that are pair-wise non-congruent. The above page ...
Nandakumar R's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
251 views

Existence of $1$-separated and $(1-\varepsilon)$-dense set in metric spaces

Is it know which metric spaces $M$ do have the following property: there is $\varepsilon>0$ and a maximal $1$-separated set which is $(1-\varepsilon)$-dense? In other words, when does at set $S\...
Christian's user avatar
  • 799
9 votes
0 answers
371 views

Embedding a graph into Euclidean space

I want to find a map $v\mapsto \tilde v$ from the vertex set of a connected infinite graph $\Gamma$ to a Euclidean space that meets the following two conditions: there is $\varepsilon>0$ such that ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
429 views

Perturbing metrics with nonpositive curvature

Let $M$ be a compact $3$-dimensional manifold diffeomorphic to a ball. Suppose that $M$ has nonpositive (sectional) curvature and its boundary $\partial M$ is convex, or even that $M$ is a Riemannian ...
Mohammad Ghomi's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
1k views

Weak compactness in $\mathcal{F}(X)$

Let $(X,0)$ be a pointed metric space and let $\mathcal{F}(X)$ be the natural predual of ${\rm Lip}_0(X)$, the space of Lipschitz functions on $X$ that map $0$ to $0$; here $\mathcal{F}(X)$ is really ...
Tomasz Kania's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
336 views

Nash embedding for 3 manifolds

The Nash embedding theorem tells us that every smooth Riemannian m-manifold can be embedded in $R^n$ for, say, $n = m^2 + 5m + 3$ (edit: 14 is a better bound for compact 3 manifolds thanks @mme). What ...
Ian Gershon Teixeira's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
137 views

A self-isometry of the sphere of a strictly convex Banach space that does not move basic vectors

Problem. Let $n\in\mathbb N$, $X$ be a strictly convex $n$-dimensional real Banach space, $S_X=\{x\in X:\|x\|=1\}$ be the unit sphere of $X$, and $e_1,\dots,e_n\in S_X$ be linearly independent points. ...
Taras Banakh's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
256 views

Compass and straightedge construction of Poncelet polygons

Gauss–Wantzel theorem states that A regular n-gon is constructible with straightedge and compass if and only if $n = 2^kp_1p_2...p_t$, where $p_i$'s are distinct Fermat primes (A Fermat prime is a ...
Fedor Nilov's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
911 views

A new theorem (discovered in 2013) equivalent to Brianchon theorem (the old theorem) discovered in XIX century?

In 2013, I found a new problem as follows: Let six points $A_1$, $A_2$, ...$A_6$ lie on a circle $(O_1)$, and the six points $B_1$, $B_2$,...,$B_6$ lie on another circle $(O_2)$. If the quadruples $...
Đào Thanh Oai's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
489 views

Category of metric spaces

Is there a standard/good reference text that does category of metric spaces? Say, it seems that by looking at this category one can recover everything about particular metric space up to scaling --- ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
100 views

A characterization of root systems via their intersections with halfspaces

In a recent preprint I obtained a nice characterization of root systems as a side product. I can imagine that this was known before, and that a source for this statement can shorten the proof of my ...
M. Winter's user avatar
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9 votes
0 answers
212 views

A geometric characterization of quasicircles

I'm reading an article by complex analysists. A Jordan curve $J$ in the extended complex plane $\hat{\mathbb{C}}=\mathbb{C} \cup \{\infty\}$ is called a quasicircle if there is a quasiconformal map ...
sharpe's user avatar
  • 721
9 votes
0 answers
365 views

How to count integer lattice points close to a subspace of $\mathbb R^n$?

Consider $m$ linearly independent vectors in $n$-dimensional Euclidean space, $v_1,...,v_m \in \mathbb R^n$ where $1\leq m<n$, and let $U := {\rm span}(v_1,...,v_m)$ denote the $m$-dimensional ...
Dierk Bormann's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
237 views

Herding sheep in a polygon

Imagine sheep fill a simple (simply connected) polygon $P$, except at one vertex $x$ there is no sheep. One convex vertex $g$ of $P$ is a gate through which the sheep should pass. A herding dog sits ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
1k views

Existence of barycenter

Let $(X,d)$ be a metric space. A barycenter of a Borel probability measure $\mu$ on $X$ is a minimizer of the function \begin{equation} \begin{split} f \colon X & \to \mathbb{R}\\ x &\mapsto \...
seub's user avatar
  • 1,347
9 votes
0 answers
1k views

Maximum volume cross-section of a hypercube

This is surely well known, but: Q1. What is the $(d{-}1)$-dimensional polytope that realizes the maximum volume cross-section of a unit hypercube by a $(d{-}1)$-dimensional hyperplane? ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
426 views

How can we join two points with a small ruler? [closed]

We want to join by a line two distinct points $A$ and $B$. We have only a ruler of length $l>0$ and a pen. If $AB>l$ how can we do this? Imagine a method that works when $AB$ is really huge and ...
Bogdan's user avatar
  • 1,759
9 votes
0 answers
172 views

Characterizing the norms on $\mathbb{R}^3$ coming from Platonic solids

Recall that any sufficiently nice compact centrally symmetric convex body in $B \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ gives rise to a Banach norm on $\mathbb{R}^3$ which has $B$ as its unit ball. Is there a nice ...
pgadey's user avatar
  • 647
9 votes
0 answers
368 views

Periodic orbits of a spinning ball in a square

Periodic orbits of a billiard ball bouncing in a square have been well-studied. I am seeking similar analysis of what is sometimes called a rough ball, one whose high friction causes it to pick up ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
331 views

Is the connected sum of knots an isometry?

Take $X$ as the set of knots in the 3-sphere (i.e. smooth embeddings of $S^1$ in $S^3$ up to smooth isotopy), endowed with the Gordian distance $d$. For a fixed knot $K$ we can define the map $\...
Springfield's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
543 views

Maximum volume convex body coverable by a unit square

Suppose you are given a single unit square, and you are permitted to cut it into $k$ (connected) pieces (where $k=1$ means just the square). Your task is to construct the largest volume convex body ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
927 views

What are the $\inf$ and $\sup$ of the area of quadrilateral given its sides length?

I asked this question on MSE here. Given a quadrilateral with side lengths $a,b,c$ and $d$ (listed in order around the perimeter), t's known that the area, is always less than or equal to $\frac{(a+...
pie's user avatar
  • 541
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is the best *general triangle*?

During courses on geometry it is sometimes necessary to draw a triangle on the blackboard that can easily be recognized as a general triangle. It must not be rectangular and must not have two or more ...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
917 views

If a (distance) metric on a connected Riemannian manifold locally agrees with the Riemannian metric, is it equal to the induced metric?

Let $(M,g)$ be a connected Riemannian manifold. Let $d_g$ be the induced distance metric of $g$. Now let $d$ be some other metric on $M$. Suppose that for each $x \in M$, there is a neighborhood $U$ ...
Elle Najt's user avatar
  • 1,462
8 votes
8 answers
3k views

Side-Angle-Side Congruence and the Parallel Postulate

Is there a link between the side-angle-side congruence of triangles and the parallel postulate? Specifically, does it follow from Euclid's first four axioms alone? In fact, does it even follow from ...
Micah Blake McCurdy's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
516 views

Must a bending of the cylinder leave the bases planar?

Set $M=\{(\cos(\theta),\sin(\theta),z):\theta\in[0,2\pi],z\in[0,1]\}$. A bending of $M$ is a smooth map $\Gamma:M\times [0,1]\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^3$ such that 1) $\Gamma[M\times\{t\}]$ is a ...
Amr's user avatar
  • 1,117
8 votes
3 answers
540 views

Set of vectors separated by at least a specified angle

Suppose $\theta$ and $d$ are given. How big can a set of $d$-dimensional vectors be such that no pair of them are at angle less than theta? I particularly want an upper bound; that is, an $n=n(\...
Matt Richards's user avatar
8 votes
6 answers
1k views

Combinatorial distance ≡ Euclidean distance

Definition: A polytope has property X iff there is a function f:N+ → R+ such that for each pair of vertices vi, vj the following holds: disteuclidean(vi, vj) = f(distcombinatorial(vi, vj)) with ...
Hans-Peter Stricker's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
2k views

Three circles intersecting at one point

Can you provide a proof for the following proposition: Proposition. Let $\triangle ABC$ be an arbitrary triangle with nine-point center $N$ and circumcenter $O$. Let $A',B',C'$ be a reflection points ...
Pedja's user avatar
  • 2,661
8 votes
2 answers
851 views

Geometric or topological results from group theory

Do you know interesting examples of purely geometric or topological results which can be proved using group theory? To make precise what I have in mind, let us consider the two following examples: ...
8 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did Apollonius invent co-ordinate geometry?

When I read descriptions of Apollonius' treatise on conics, some of them say that he invented co-ordinate geometry, some say that he kind of did and others are silent on the matter. Or is it the case ...
teil's user avatar
  • 4,351
8 votes
2 answers
591 views

Cutting a spherical surface into mutually non-congruent pieces of equal area

Question: For what values of integer $n$ can the surface of a sphere be partitioned into $n$ convex and mutually non-congruent pieces of same area? (convexity could be viewed as geodesic convexity). ...
Nandakumar R's user avatar
  • 5,979
8 votes
2 answers
4k views

Metric measure spaces: in what sense is analysis on these spaces "non-smooth"

I understand the basic definition of a metric measure space to be the following: A metric measure space is a triple of a space $X$, metric $d$, and measure $m$: $(X,d,m)$ in the sense that the ...
yoshi's user avatar
  • 427
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Two rectangular parallelepiped

Prove that if we have two rectangular parallelepiped (cuboids) such that one of them is placed inside the other then the sum of the three lengths of the inner parallelepiped is at most the sum of the ...
heartwork's user avatar
  • 383
8 votes
1 answer
361 views

Inscribed $n$-polytope with $2^n$ vertices of maximal volume

The question is in the title: Question: Which inscribed $n$-dimensional polytope (inscribed in the unit sphere) with $2^n$ vertices has the largest possible volume? Is it the $n$-dimensional cube? ...
M. Rumpy's user avatar
  • 283
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

What's the name of this geometric mathematical modeling problem?

There is a right angle corner with width 1 in both directions. One wants to find the largest area shape which can pass through this corner. I know that this is a famous problem, but what is it called?
Yijun Yuan's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
1k views

Shortest Path in Plane

I thought about the following problem: Given a polygonal subdivision of the euclidian plane where each of the polygons has a speed associated with it, and given two points s,t, I'm interested in the ...
user695652's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
991 views

Will a ball fired through a focus of an ellipse eventually tend to a horizontal line?

A couple of years ago I came across this phenomenon which appears to be true although I am having difficulty proving it. F and F' are foci of a billiard table in the shape of an ellipse. A ball is ...
onthestairs's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Area of cross-section (at midpoint perpendicular to longest diagonal) in the unit cube of dimension N

Take a unit cube (of side 1) in N dimensions. Construct the cross-section at the midpoint of the longest diagonal. What is the area of this N-1 dimensional region? I can compute this, but it would be ...
Ila Fiete's user avatar

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