English

Sporadic Reinhardt polygons

Metric Geometry 2012-09-28 v2 Combinatorics Number Theory

Abstract

Let nn be a positive integer, not a power of two. A \textit{Reinhardt polygon} is a convex nn-gon that is optimal in three different geometric optimization problems: it has maximal perimeter relative to its diameter, maximal width relative to its diameter, and maximal width relative to its perimeter. For almost all nn, there are many Reinhardt polygons with nn sides, and many of them exhibit a particular periodic structure. While these periodic polygons are well understood, for certain values of nn, additional Reinhardt polygons exist that do not possess this structured form. We call these polygons \textit{sporadic}. We completely characterize the integers nn for which sporadic Reinhardt polygons exist, showing that these polygons occur precisely when n=pqrn=pqr with pp and qq distinct odd primes and r2r\geq2. We also prove that a positive proportion of the Reinhardt polygons with nn sides are sporadic for almost all integers nn, and we investigate the precise number of sporadic Reinhardt polygons that are produced for several values of nn by a construction that we introduce.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1203.4107,
  title  = {Sporadic Reinhardt polygons},
  author = {Kevin G. Hare and Michael J. Mossinghoff},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1203.4107},
  year   = {2012}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:36:13.201Z