Related papers: A Crossing Lemma for Jordan Curves

For a finite set $P$ of points in the plane in general position, a \emph{crossing family} of size $k$ in $P$ is a collection of $k$ line segments with endpoints in $P$ that are pairwise crossing. It is a long-standing open problem to…

We prove that a Jordan $\calc^1$-curve in the plane contains any non-flat triangle up to translation and homothety with positive ratio. This is false if the curve is not $C^1$. The proof uses a bit configuration spaces, differential and…

A finite, normal cover $f: X\longrightarrow \bbP^2$ of degree $m\geq 3$ (the case $m=2$ is well known and we do not consider it in this paper) is called \emph{simple}, if there is a pencil $\mathcal P$ of rational curves of $\bbP^2$ such…

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…

We consider the non-crossing connectors problem, which is stated as follows: Given n simply connected regions R_1,...,R_n in the plane and finite point sets P_i subset of R_i for i=1,...,n, are there non-crossing connectors y_i for…

For each integer $k \in [0,9]$, we count the number of plane cubic curves defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ that do not share a common component and intersect in exactly $k\ \mathbb{F}_q$-rational points. We set this up as a…

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a plane singular curve defined over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$. The linear system of plane curves of a given degree passing through the singularities of $\cF$ provides potentially good bounds for the number of points…

We show that there always exists an inscribed square in a Jordan curve given as the union of two graphs of functions of Lipschitz constant less than $1 + \sqrt{2}$. We are motivated by Tao's result that there exists such a square in the…

Let $J$ be a simple closed curve in $\mathbb R^{k}$ $(k\geq2)$ that is differentiable with non-zero derivative at a point $A_0\in J$. For a tuple of positive reals $a_1,\cdots,a_n$ $(n\geq3)$, each of which is less than the sum of the…

We define a plane curve to be threadable if it can rigidly pass through a point-hole in a line L without otherwise touching L. Threadable curves are in a sense generalizations of monotone curves. We have two main results. The first is a…

An $n$-Venn diagram is a certain collection of $n$ simple closed curves in the plane. They can be regarded as graphs where the points of intersection are vertices and the curve segments between points of intersection are edges. Every…

A point on a plane curve is said to be Galois (for the curve) if the projection from the point as a map from the curve to a line induces a Galois extension of function fields. It is known that the number of Galois points is finite except…

We prove an incidence theorem for points and planes in the projective space $\mathbb P^3$ over any field $\mathbb F$, whose characteristic $p\neq 2.$ An incidence is viewed as an intersection along a line of a pair of two-planes from two…

Let us fold a strip of paper many times in the same direction, and then unfold it to form a fixed angle $\theta$ at all creases. The resulting shape is called the Dragon curve with the unfolding angle $\theta$. When $0\le\theta<90^{\circ}$,…

We prove that on a closed surface of genus $g$, the cardinality of a set of simple closed curves in which any two are non-homotopic and intersect at most once is $\lesssim g^2 \log(g)$. This bound matches the largest known constructions to…

An algorithm is demonstrated that finds an ordinary intersection in an arrangement of $n$ lines in $\mathbb{R}^2$, not all parallel and not all passing through a common point, in time $O(n \log{n})$. The algorithm is then extended to find…

We prove that the number of tangencies between the members of two families, each of which consists of $n$ pairwise disjoint curves, can be as large as $\Omega(n^{4/3})$. We show that from a conjecture about forbidden $0$-$1$ matrices it…

The minimum number of self-intersection points for members of a free homotopy class of curves on the punctured torus is bounded above in terms of the number L of letters required for a minimal description of the class in terms of the…

We consider the motion by curvature of a network of smooth curves with multiple junctions in the plane, that is, the geometric gradient flow associated to the length functional. Such a flow represents the evolution of a two--dimensional…

We show that the number of tropical curves of given genus and degree through some given general points in the plane does not depend on the position of the points. In the case when the degree of the curves contains only primitive integral…