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24 votes
0 answers
760 views

How much of the plane is 4-colorable?

In 1981, Falconer proved that the measurable chromatic number of the plane is at least 5. That is, there are no measurable sets $A_1,A_2,A_3,A_4\subseteq\mathbb{R}^2$, each avoiding unit distances, ...
Dustin G. Mixon's user avatar
22 votes
2 answers
900 views

Is every 1-million-connected graph rigid in 3D?

It is an old result that every $6$-connected graph is rigid in $\mathbb{R}^2$: Lovász, László, and Yechiam Yemini. "On generic rigidity in the plane." SIAM Journal on Algebraic Discrete ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
970 views

Grothendieck on polyhedra over finite fields

In Grothendieck's Sketch of a Programme he spends a few pages discussing polyhedra over arbitrary rings and concludes with some intriguing remarks on specializing polyhedra over their "most ...
tghyde's user avatar
  • 528
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

Applications of Kirchhoff's circuit laws to graph theory

Is there a good survey on applications of Kirchhoff's circuit laws to graph theory or/and discrete geometry? Examples: Matrix tree theorem, Squaring the square, Electrician’s proof of Euler’s ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
16 votes
4 answers
2k views

Point sets in Euclidean space with a small number of distinct distances

It is well known and not hard to prove that the regular simplex in n-dimensions is the only way to place n+1 points so that the distance between distinct pairs of points is always the same. My general ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
878 views

Sets of evenly distributed points in the Euclidean plane

Is there a set $P \subset \mathbb{R}^2$ of points in the Euclidean plane whose intersection with every convex subset of $\mathbb{R}^2$ of area $1$ is nonempty but finite? If the answer is yes, can $P$...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.6k
13 votes
1 answer
933 views

Drawings of complete graphs with $Z(n)$ crossings

Hill conjectured that the minimum number of crossings in a drawing of the complete graph $K_n$ in the plane is exactly $$Z(n) = \frac{1}{4} \bigg\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\bigg\rfloor \left\lfloor\frac{n-1}{...
Jan Kyncl's user avatar
  • 6,101
11 votes
1 answer
607 views

Largest pair of homometric Golomb rulers?

A Golomb ruler is a set of $n$ integers that determines $\binom{n}{2}$ distinct differences. Two sets are homometric if they determine the same (multiset) of differences. For example, $$\{0,1,4,10,12,...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
1k views

Generalization of Sylvester-Gallai theorem

The Sylvester-Gallai theorem states that it is not possible to arrange a finite number of points so that a line through every two of them passes through a third unless they are all on a single ...
8 votes
0 answers
358 views

Coloring toroidal polyhedra with convex faces?

Consider a toroidal polyhedron, which is a topological torus, in which all faces are planar, two faces meet in at most an edge, and adjacent faces are not coplanar. The Szilassi polyhedron has 7 non-...
Leah Wrenn Berman's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
550 views

Minkowski's theorem for non-0-symmetric sets

Let $\Lambda \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a full-rank lattice, i.e. $\Lambda = A \mathbb{Z}^n$ for some $A \in \mathrm{GL}_n (\mathbb{R})$, and let $C \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n$ be a $0$-symmetric convex ...
user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

Elementary precise estimate of the covering number of euclidean balls by hypercubes

I am looking for a straightforward way to upper bound the covering number of a $d$-dimensional euclidean ball by $\ell_\infty$-balls of radius $\varepsilon$, which I will call cubes of sidelength $2\...
hHhh's user avatar
  • 172
7 votes
1 answer
299 views

Lipschitz-continuity of convex polytopes under the Hausdorff metric

Recently, I proved the following Lipschitz-continuity like result for convex polytopes: Let $A\in\mathbb R^{m\times n}$ and $b,b'\in\mathbb R^m$ be given such that $\{x\,:\,Ax\leq 0\}=\{0\}$ (which ...
Frederik vom Ende's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
381 views

Lattice-cube minimal blocking sets

Let $C_d(n)$ be the lattice cube consisting of the $n^d$ points with each of its $d$ coorindates in $\lbrace 1,2,\ldots,n \rbrace$. Define a blocking set for a lattice cube to be a set of points in ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
132 views

Have the affine simplicial line arrangments been enumerated?

I am looking for a classification (or attempt at enumeration) of affine simplicial line arrangements. A line arrangment is a family of straight lines in $\Bbb R^2$. It is simplicial if all regions are ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
6 votes
0 answers
118 views

Convex hull of all-ones principal submatrices

For a subset $S$ of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, let $\mathbf{1}_S\in\{0,1\}^n$ denote the indicator vector of $S$, with a $1$ on the $i$th coordinate iff $i\in S$. Let $\mathcal{X}$ denote the convex-hull of ...
guigux's user avatar
  • 617
5 votes
2 answers
342 views

Minimum length of a convex lattice polygon containing k lattice points?

Let $f(k)$ denote the minimum length of a convex lattice polygon containing exactly $k$ lattice points (including lattice points on the boundary). It is not too hard to show that $k = \frac{1}{4\pi} ...
Bent spoon's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
173 views

4-polytopes with only one kind of regular facet

Is there a neat way to show (or a reference that already proves) that the 4-cube is the only convex 4-polytope in which all facets are regular 3-cubes? the 24-cell is the only convex 4-polytope in ...
M. Winter's user avatar
  • 13.6k
4 votes
1 answer
282 views

A combinatorial problem about sequences of numbers

In this math.stackexchange question Adam Rubinson asked (I paraphrase): Given a natural number $r$, what is the least number $n$ such that every strictly increasing sequence of $n$ real numbers has a ...
bof's user avatar
  • 13.4k
4 votes
0 answers
234 views

To whom is the classification of atomic, modular finite lattices due?

Here lattice means a poset with meets and joins. A lattice is called atomic if every element is a join of atoms. There are a few different ways to define modular for finite lattices: one is that the ...
Sam Hopkins's user avatar
  • 24.2k
4 votes
0 answers
213 views

Counting the polytopes of the translates of the resonance hyperplane arrangement inside the unit hypercube

Let $n$ be a positive natural number. For all $\emptyset \subset S \subseteq \{1, \ldots, n\}$ and $k \in \mathbb{Z}$, define the hyperplane $H(S,k)$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ given by the equations $$H(S,k):=...
calc's user avatar
  • 283
4 votes
0 answers
158 views

Reference for the notion of polyhedra "degenerations"

Let $P$ be a convex polyhedron and let $P(t)$ be a continuous deformation thereof, such that: a) $P(0)=P$; b) for all $t\in[0;1)$ the polyhedron $P(t)$ is strongly combinatorially equivalent to $P$ (...
Igor Makhlin's user avatar
  • 3,513
4 votes
0 answers
189 views

Slices of Simplices that are Simplices, Reference?

I am trying to find a reference for the following fact. It is elementary and not hard to prove, but I haven't been able to find the question treated anywhere. Let $A$ be an $l\times n$ matrix with ...
chris seaton's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
116 views

A theory of refined h- and f-polynomials for the permutahedra, associahedra, noncrossing partitions, and tropical Grassmannians (references)

Looking for references (insights) on a theory encompassing a notion of refined face polynomials and their associated refined h-polynomials that are generalizations of the relation between ordinary f-...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
3 votes
0 answers
144 views

Counting homologically non-trivial and trivial cycles in $n \times n$ square lattice torus of a given length $l \geq n$

This should be a fairly standard question but I can't really seem to find a reference. Consider an $n \times n$ square lattice torus $\mathbb T$. Given a length $l \geq n$, what is the number of ...
Sanchayan Dutta's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
391 views

Dissection of a polygon into convex polygons

Problem: for a fixed integer $m\geqslant 3$ find all $n$ such that no $n$-gon can be dissected into convex $m$-gons. I would be very grateful for any information on this problem. Remark 1. There ...
Ivan Feshchenko's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
143 views

Triangles and convex hulls in high dimensions

Given a set $S_n$ of $n$ points $\mathbf{x}_1, \mathbf{x}_2, \ldots, \mathbf{x}_n\in\mathbb{R}^d$, such that every $(d+1)$-tuple in $S_n$ is affinely independent, and let $C(S_n)$ be the convex hull ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
157 views

Bound for a sequence of vertices in a graph

I have come across the following problem. Let $d\in\mathbb{N}$. Let $G$ be any $k$-regular connected directed graph with $n$ vertices, no parallel edges and no 2-cycles. For a vertex $v\in G$, let $...
Arturo's user avatar
  • 167
2 votes
1 answer
127 views

The density of a tripartite 1-planar graph

1-planar graphs are those can be drawn in the plane so that there is at most one crossing per edge. We know that the maximum number of edges of an $n$-vertex 1-planar graph is at most $4n-8$, and the ...
Xin Zhang's user avatar
  • 1,190
2 votes
0 answers
65 views

Structure Theory for Tree Decompositions

I that $G=(V,E,W)$ is a weighted graph with positive edge weights and a finite set of vertices $K$. Let $0\le k,M\le K$ be a fixed integer. Is is known when $G$ admits the following type of ...
Timothy_G's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
77 views

Flexagons and noncrossing partitions

Turns out a couple of series related to the faces of flexagons popped up in my explorations of combinatorial reciprocities in a group algebra for sets of partition polynomial (ParPs) related to the ...
Tom Copeland's user avatar
  • 10.5k
1 vote
2 answers
100 views

Name for the weight function defined as the integer sum of coordinate entries from ${\mathbf F}_p$

In ${\mathbb F}_p^n$, $p$ prime one may define a weight function on vectors in various ways such as Hamming, or Lee weight. (These two weights correspond nicely to the respective distances from $\bar ...
TA_Math's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
1 answer
75 views

Given a vertex $u$ (of bounded degree $k$) and another vertex $v$ in a planar graph, what is the smallest number of "curves"?

Given a vertex $u$ (of bounded degree $k$) and another vertex $v$ in a planar graph $G$, what is the smallest number of "curves" in the plane drawn from $u$ to $v$ such that no $u$--$v$ path in $G$ ...
Hao S's user avatar
  • 111
1 vote
0 answers
76 views

Shellable non-pseudomanifolds with dimension greater than 2

Shellability of simplicial balls and spheres (simplicial complexes whose geometric realizations are homeomorphic to balls and spheres) has been studied quite extensively. There are many explicit ...
mashedcarrots's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
378 views

Bridges between geometry and combinatorics

Geometry and combinatorics are two different branches of mathematics. Does there exist any connection between them? In many cases, mathematicians solve some geometric problems by reducing them to a ...
KAK's user avatar
  • 613
1 vote
0 answers
61 views

Generalizing Concepts of Planar Euclidean Geometry to Symmetric TSP-Instances

To me it seems possible, to successfully look at symmetric TSP instances from a geometry-point of view. Examples are: the diagonals of the convex hull of a set of points in the euclidean plane; ...
Manfred Weis's user avatar
  • 13.2k
1 vote
0 answers
193 views

Lattice-point enumeration question involving linear combinations of matrices

I would like to know some references to learn more about an answer to this question, if there are any references: Let $A_1, \dots , A_m$ and $B$ be $n\times n$ symmetric matrices. Let $$S = \{(x_1, \...
John Doe's user avatar
  • 170
0 votes
1 answer
173 views

Which simplicial complexes are completely determined by the 1-skeleton of their dual polyhedral complexes?

Consider the following line of reasoning that shows certain simplicial complexes (of arbitrary dimension) are completely determined by corresponding graphs: The facet complex of any simplicial ...
hasManyStupidQuestions's user avatar