English

On the sets of $n$ points forming $n+1$ directions

Combinatorics 2021-01-22 v5

Abstract

Let SS be a set of n7n\geq 7 points in the plane, no three of which are collinear. Suppose that SS determines n+1n+1 directions. That is to say, the segments whose endpoints are in SS form n+1n+1 distinct slopes. We prove that SS is, up to an affine transformation, equal to nn of the vertices of a regular (n+1)(n+1)-gon. This result was conjectured in 1986 by R. E. Jamison. In an addendum to the paper, we show that a much stronger result can be obtained as a corollary of a structure theorem of Green and Tao on point sets spanning few ordinary lines.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1811.01055,
  title  = {On the sets of $n$ points forming $n+1$ directions},
  author = {Cédric Pilatte},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.01055},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Paper: 7 pages, 5 figures. Addendum: 3 pages