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Every set of points $\mathcal{P}$ determines $\Omega(|\mathcal{P}| / \log |\mathcal{P}|)$ distances. A close version of this was initially conjectured by Erd\H{o}s in 1946 and rather recently proved by Guth and Katz. We show that when near…
It is widely believed that point sets in the plane which determine few distinct distances must have some special structure. In particular, such sets are believed to be similar to a lattice. This note considers two different ways to quantify…
Let $p_1,p_2,p_3$ be three non-collinear points in the plane, and let $P$ be a set of $n$ other points in the plane. We show that the number of distinct distances between $p_1,p_2,p_3$ and the points of $P$ is $\Omega(n^{6/11})$, improving…
We consider the problem of determining the number of distinct distances between two point sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ where one point set $\mathcal{P}_1$ of size $m$ lies on a real algebraic curve of fixed degree $r$, and the other point set…
Let $p$ be an odd prime and $A \subseteq \mathbb{F}_p$ be a subset of the finite field with $p$ elements. We show that $A \times A \subseteq \mathbb{F}_p^2$ determines at least a constant multiple of $\min\{p, |A|^{3/2}\}$ distinct pinned…
Let P_1 and P_2 be two sets of points in the plane, so that P_1 is contained in a line L_1, P_2 is contained in a line L_2, and L_1 and L_2 are neither parallel nor orthogonal. Then the number of distinct distances determined by the pairs…
We prove that for some universal $c$, a non-collinear set of $N>\frac{1}{c}$ points in the Euclidean plane determines at least $c \frac{N}{\log N}$ distinct areas of triangles with one vertex at the origin, as well as at least $c…
Given a set of points $P \subset \mathbb F_q^2$ such that $|P|\geq q^{3/2}$ it is established that $|P|$ determines $\Omega(q^2)$ distinct perpendicular bisectors. It is also proven that, if $|P| \geq q^{4/3}$, then for a positive…
Let $P$ be a finite point set in $\mathbb{R}^2$ with the set of distance $n$-chains defined as $$ \Delta_n(P)=\{(|p_1-p_2|,|p_2-p_3|,\ldots,|p_n-p_{n+1}|):p_i \in P\}.$$ We show that for $2\leq n=O_{|P|}(1)$ we have $$|\Delta_n(P)|\gtrsim…
We prove that if $P$ is a set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{C}^2$, then either the points in $P$ determine $\Omega(n^{1-\epsilon})$ complex distances, or $P$ is contained in a line with slope $\pm i$. If the latter occurs then each pair of…
We study the structure of planar point sets that determine a small number of distinct distances. Specifically, we show that if a set P of n points determines o(n) distinct distances, then no line contains \Omega(n^{7/8}) points of P and no…
A homogeneous set of $n$ points in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space determines at least $\Omega(n^{2d/(d^2+1)} / \log^{c(d)} n)$ distinct distances for a constant $c(d)>0$. In three-space, we slightly improve our general bound and show…
It is shown that given a set of $N$ points in the plane or on the sphere, there is a subset of size $\gtrsim N^{1/3}/\log N$ with all pairwise distances between points distinct.
We prove that, for any $B \subset \mathbb R$, the Cartesian product set $B \times B$ determines $\Omega(|B|^{2+c})$ distinct angles.
We consider the number of distinct distances between two finite sets of points in ${\bf R}^k$, for any constant dimension $k\ge 2$, where one set $P_1$ consists of $n$ points on a line $l$, and the other set $P_2$ consists of $m$ arbitrary…
In this paper we obtain a new lower bound on the Erd\H{o}s distinct distances problem in the plane over prime fields. More precisely, we show that for any set $A\subset \mathbb{F}_p^2$ with $|A|\le p^{7/6}$, the number of distinct distances…
Let $\gamma_1,\gamma_2$ be a pair of constant-degree irreducible algebraic curves in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Assume that $\gamma_i$ is neither contained in a hyperplane nor in a quadric surface in $\mathbb{R}^d$, for each $i=1,2$. We show that for…
We prove a lower bound on the number of directions determined by Cartesian products $A\times A$ in the affine plane over the finite field $\mathbb F_{p^2}$. Our lower bound holds for sets of size $p^{2/3}<|A|<p$, which are not contained in…
This paper considers an extremal version of the Erd\H{o}s distinct distances problem. For a point set $P \subset \mathbb R^d$, let $\Delta(P)$ denote the set of all Euclidean distances determined by $P$. Our main result is the following: if…
Let $S$ be a set of points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ contained in a circle and $P$ an unrestricted point set in $\mathbb{R}^2$. We prove the number of distinct distances between points in $S$ and points in $P$ is at least…