English

A solution to the Pyjama Problem

Combinatorics 2016-06-20 v2 Dynamical Systems Metric Geometry

Abstract

The "pyjama stripe" is the subset of R2\mathbb{R}^2 consisting of a vertical strip of width 2ε2 \varepsilon around every integer xx-coordinate. The "pyjama problem" asks whether finitely many rotations of the pyjama stripe around the origin can cover the plane. The purpose of this paper is to answer this question in the affirmative, for all positive ε\varepsilon. The problem is reduced to a statement closely related to Furstenberg's ×2,×3\times 2,\, \times 3 Theorem from topological dynamics, and is proved by analogy with that result.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1305.1514,
  title  = {A solution to the Pyjama Problem},
  author = {Freddie Manners},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.1514},
  year   = {2016}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:12:49.218Z