Related papers: Partial covers of PG(n,q)
A curve over a field k is pointless if it has no k-rational points. We show that there exist pointless genus-3 hyperelliptic curves over a finite field F_q if and only if q < 26, that there exist pointless smooth plane quartics over F_q if…
We consider the number \bar N(q) of points in the projective complement of graph hypersurfaces over \F_q and show that the smallest graphs with non-polynomial \bar N(q) have 14 edges. We give six examples which fall into two classes. One…
Consider a $q$-ary block code satisfying the property that no $l$-letters long codeword's prefix occurs as a suffix of any codeword for $l$ inside some interval. We determine a general upper bound on the maximum size of these codes and a…
We obtain sharp upper and lower bounds on a certain four-dimensional Frobenius number determined by a prime pair $(p,q)$, $2<p<q$, including exact formulae for two infinite subclasses of such pairs. Our work is motivated by the study of…
We prove that at least $\Omega(n^{0.51})$ hyperplanes are needed to slice all edges of the $n$-dimensional hypercube. We provide a couple of applications: lower bounds on the computational complexity of parity, and a lower bound on the…
Let $S$ be a set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^3$, no three collinear and not all coplanar. If at most $n-k$ are coplanar and $n$ is sufficiently large, the total number of planes determined is at least $1 + k…
A $\varrho$-saturating set of $\text{PG}(N,q)$ is a point set $\mathcal{S}$ such that any point of $\text{PG}(N,q)$ lies in a subspace of dimension at most $\varrho$ spanned by points of $\mathcal{S}$. It is generally known that a…
In the previous paper, we established an elementary bound for numbers of points of surfaces in the projective $3$-space over ${\Bbb F}_q$. In this paper, we give the complete list of surfaces that attain the elementary bound. Precisely…
A Q-homology plane is a normal complex algebraic surface having trivial rational homology. We obtain a structure theorem for Q-homology planes with smooth locus of non-general type. We show that if a Q-homology plane contains a non-quotient…
A conjecture of Serre concerns the number of rational points of bounded height on a finite cover of projective space P^{n-1}. In this paper, we achieve Serre's conjecture in the special case of smooth cyclic covers of any degree when n is…
A $q$-ary $t$-covering array is an $m \times n$ matrix with entries from $\{0, 1, ..., q-1\}$ with the property that for any $t$ column positions, all $q^t$ possible vectors of length $t$ occur at least once. One wishes to minimize $m$ for…
We show that the problem of covering a set of points in the plane with a minimum number of guillotine cuts is NP-complete. To that end, first we present a new NP-completeness proof for the problem of covering points with disjoint line…
We prove that a subset of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ that contains a hyperplane in any direction has size at least $q^{n}-O(q^2)$.
We show the existence of systems of n polynomial equations in n variables, with a total of n+k+1 distinct monomial terms, possessing [n/k+1]^k nondegenerate positive solutions. (Here, [x] is the integer part of a positive number x.) This…
A finite point set in $\mathbb{R}^d$ is in general position if no $d + 1$ points lie on a common hyperplane. Let $\alpha_d(N)$ be the largest integer such that any set of $N$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, with no $d + 2$ members on a common…
We will show that for any $n\ge N$ points on the $N$-dimensional sphere $S^N$ there is a closed hemisphere which contains at least $\lfloor\frac{n+N+1}{2}\rfloor$ of these points. This bound is sharp and we will calculate the amount of sets…
We sharpen to nearly optimal the known asymptotic and explicit bounds for the number of $\mathbb{F}_q$-rational points on a geometrically irreducible hypersurface over a (large) finite field. The proof involves a Bertini-type probabilistic…
We derive explicit upper bounds for various functions counting primes in arithmetic progressions. By way of example, if $q$ and $a$ are integers with $\gcd(a,q)=1$ and $3 \leq q \leq 10^5$, and $\theta(x;q,a)$ denotes the sum of the…
We give new arguments that improve the known upper bounds on the maximal number N_q(g) of rational points of a curve of genus g over a finite field F_q for a number of pairs (q,g). Given a pair (q,g) and an integer N, we determine the…
Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in real projective $d$-space, not all contained in a hyperplane, such that any $d$ points span a hyperplane. An ordinary hyperplane of $P$ is a hyperplane containing exactly $d$ points of $P$. We show that if…