Related papers: Few distinct distances implies no heavy lines or c…

We prove that if a finite point set in real space does not have too many points on a plane, then it spans a quadratic number of ordinary lines. This answers the real case of a question of Basit, Dvir, Saraf, and Wolf. It shows that there is…

We introduce a new type of distinct distances result: a lower bound on the number of distances between points on a line and points on a two-dimensional strip. This can be seen as a generalization of the well-studied problems of distances…

In this paper we study some Erdos type problems in discrete geometry. Our main result is that we show that there is a planar point set of n points such that no four are collinear but no matter how we choose a subset of size $n^{5/6+o(1)} $…

A well-known theorem of de Bruijn and Erd\H{o}s states that any set of $n$ non-collinear points in the plane determines at least $n$ lines. Chen and Chv\'{a}tal asked whether an analogous statement holds within the framework of finite…

A classic theorem of Euclidean geometry asserts that any noncollinear set of $n$ points in the plane determines at least $n$ distinct lines. Chen and Chv\'atal conjectured that this holds for an arbitrary finite metric space, with a certain…

Guth and Katz proved that any point set $\mathcal P$ in the plane determines $\Omega(|\mathcal P|/\log|\mathcal P|)$ distinct distances. We show that when near to this lower bound, a point set $\mathcal P$ of the form $A\times A$ must…

In this paper, we prove that a set of $N$ points in ${\bf R}^2$ has at least $c{N \over \log N}$ distinct distances, thus obtaining the sharp exponent in a problem of Erd\"os. We follow the set-up of Elekes and Sharir which, in the spirit…

Let P be a set of n points in the plane, not all on a line. We show that if n is large then there are at least n/2 ordinary lines, that is to say lines passing through exactly two points of P. This confirms, for large n, a conjecture of…

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…

An ordinary plane of a finite set of points in real 3-space with no three collinear is a plane intersecting the set in exactly three points. We prove a structure theorem for sets of points spanning few ordinary planes. Our proof relies on…

It is shown that $N$ points on a real algebraic curve of degree $n$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ always determine $\gtrsim_{n,d}N^{1+\frac{1}{4}}$ distinct distances, unless the curve is a straight line or the closed geodesic of a flat torus. In the…

We prove that if $N$ points lie in convex position in the plane then they determine $\Omega(N^{5/4})$ distinct angles, provided that the points do not lie on a common circle. This is derived from a more general claim that if $N$ points in…

We show that, for a constant-degree algebraic curve $\gamma$ in $\mathbb{R}^D$, every set of $n$ points on $\gamma$ spans at least $\Omega(n^{4/3})$ distinct distances, unless $\gamma$ is an {\it algebraic helix} (see Definition 1.1). This…

In this note, we show that in planar pointsets determining many unit distances, these unit distances must span many directions. Specifically, we show that a set of $n$ points can determine only $o(n^{4/3})$ unit distances from a set of at…

Let $\mathcal{S}$ be a set of $n$ points in real four-dimensional space, no four coplanar and spanning the whole space. We prove that if the number of solids incident with exactly four points of $\mathcal{S}$ is less than $Kn^3$ for some…

A special case of a combinatorial theorem of De Bruijn and Erdos asserts that every noncollinear set of n points in the plane determines at least n distinct lines. Chen and Chvatal suggested a possible generalization of this assertion in…

Kelly's theorem states that a set of $n$ points affinely spanning $\mathbb{C}^3$ must determine at least one ordinary complex line (a line passing through exactly two of the points). Our main theorem shows that such sets determine at least…

We introduce the bisector energy of an $n$-point set $P$ in $\mathbb{R}^2$, defined as the number of quadruples $(a,b,c,d)$ from $P$ such that $a$ and $b$ determine the same perpendicular bisector as $c$ and $d$. If no line or circle…

We study separating systems of the edges of a graph where each member of the separating system is a path. We conjecture that every $n$-vertex graph admits a separating path system of size $O(n)$ and prove this in certain interesting special…

The Erd\H{o}s distinct distance problem is a ubiquitous problem in discrete geometry. Somewhat less well known is Erd\H{o}s' distinct angle problem, the problem of finding the minimum number of distinct angles between $n$ non-collinear…