Related papers: Sets of natural numbers with proscribed subsets
An arc is a subset of $\mathbb F_q^2$ which does not contain any collinear triples. Let $A(q,k)$ denote the number of arcs in $\mathbb F_q^2$ with cardinality $k$. This paper is primarily concerned with estimating the size of $A(q,k)$ when…
We construct finite sets of real numbers that have a small difference set and strong local properties. In particular, we construct a set $A$ of $n$ real numbers such that $|A-A|=n^{\log_2 3}$ and that every subset $A'\subseteq A$ of size…
Let G be an additive abelian group whose finite subgroups are all cyclic. Let A_1,...,A_n (n>1) be finite subsets of G with cardinality k>0, and let b_1,...,b_n be pairwise distinct elements of G with odd order. We show that for every…
A dominating set of a graph $G$ is a set of vertices $D$ such that for all $v \in V(G)$, either $v \in D$ or $(v,d) \in E(G)$ for some $d \in D$. The cardinality redundance of a vertex set $S$, $CR(S)$, is the number of vertices in $V(G)$…
We study the possible structures which can be carried by sets which have no countable subset, but which fail to be `surjectively Dedekind finite', in two possible senses, that there is a surjection to $\omega$, or alternatively, that there…
Let $La(n,P)$ be the maximum size of a family of subsets of $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$ not containing $P$ as a (weak) subposet. The diamond poset, denoted $B_{2}$, is defined on four elements $x,y,z,w$ with the relations $x<y,z$ and $y,z<w$.…
We consider the possible sizes of large sumfree sets contained in the discrete hypercube $\{1,...,n\}^k$, and we determine upper and lower bounds for the maximal size as $n$ becomes large. We also discuss a continuous analogue in which our…
We use probabilistic methods to find lower bounds on the maximum number, in a graph with domination number \gamma, of dominating sets of size \gamma. We find that we can randomly generate a graph that, w.h.p., is dominated by almost all…
Given finite configurations $P_1, \dots, P_n \subset \mathbb{R}^d$, let us denote by $\mathbf{m}_{\mathbb{R}^d}(P_1, \dots, P_n)$ the maximum density a set $A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$ can have without containing congruent copies of any…
We study the existence and cardinality of universal families for classes of rayless graphs. It is known, by a result of Diestel, Halin, and Vogler, that the class of countable rayless graphs does not admit a countable universal family,…
A 3-simplex is a collection of four sets A_1,...,A_4 with empty intersection such that any three of them have nonempty intersection. We show that the maximum size of a set system on n elements without a 3-simplex is $2^{n-1} +…
Revisiting a $50$-year-old estimate of Choi, Erd\H{o}s and Szemer\'edi, we show that if $A \subseteq \{1, 2, \ldots, 2n\}$ satisfies $|A| \ge n + 1.2 \cdot 10^8$, then there exist five distinct integers whose pairwise sums are all contained…
Every conditionally convergent series of real numbers has a divergent subseries. How many subsets of the natural numbers are needed so that every conditionally convergent series diverges on the subseries corresponding to one of these sets?…
Given $N$ positive integers $a_1, ..., a_N$ with $\gcd(a_1, ..., a_N)=1$, let $f_N$ denote the largest natural number which is not a positive integer combination of $a_1, ..., a_N$. This paper gives an optimal lower bound for $f_N$ in terms…
A finite subset $A$ of an abelian group $G$ is said to be zero-free if the identity element of $G$ cannot be written as a sum of distinct elements from $A$. In this article we study the structure of zero-free subsets of $Z/pZ$ the…
For any group G of order n, a subset A of G is said to be product-free if there is no solution of the equation ab=c with a,b,c in A. Previous results of Gowers showed that the size of any product-free subset of G is at most n/d^(1/3), where…
Given $A$ a set of $N$ positive integers, an old question in additive combinatorics asks that whether $A$ contains a sum-free subset of size at least $N/3+\omega(N)$ for some increasing unbounded function $\omega$. The question is generally…
Let A be a set of integers dense in a finite interval. We establish upper and lower bounds for the longest regularly-spaced and convex subsets of A and of A-A.
In this paper we give a different approach to determining the cardinality of $h$-fold sumsets $hA$ when $A\subset \mathbb{Z}^d$ has $d+2$ elements. This enables us to provide more general result with a shorter and simpler proof. We also…
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph. A subset $D$ of $V(G)$ is called a super dominating set if for every $v \in V(G)-D$ there exists an external private neighbour of $v$ with respect to $V(G)-D.$ The minimum cardinality of a super dominating set is…