English

A numerical proof of the Grunbaum conjecture

Metric Geometry 2017-03-06 v2

Abstract

The Hahn-Banach theorem states that onto each line in every normed space, there is a unitary projection, and Kadec and Snobar proved (using John's ellipsoid) that onto each nn-dimensional subspace of any real normed space, there is a projection with norm at most λnn\lambda_n \leq \sqrt{n}. Grunbaum conjectured that λ2=4/3<2\lambda_2=4/3<\sqrt{2} and several attempts have been made to prove this conjecture: Konig and Tomczak-Jaegermann published a proof that was shown incomplete by Chalmers and Lewicki, who gave their own (a bit intricate) proof. Here is a simpler proof, mostly based on their works, and partially on a few numerical studies of extrema of functions of 3 variables.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.07248,
  title  = {A numerical proof of the Grunbaum conjecture},
  author = {David Hermann},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.07248},
  year   = {2017}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T15:58:52.377Z