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Related papers: On the unit distance problem

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We show that for any large $n$, there exists a set of $n$ points in the plane with $O(n^2/\sqrt{\log n})$ distinct distances, such that any four points in the set determine at least five distinct distances. This answers (in the negative) a…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-09-04 Terence Tao

We prove that no ball admits a non-harmonic orthogonal basis of exponentials. We use a combinatorial result, originally studied by Erd\H os, which says that the number of distances determined by $n$ points in ${\Bbb R}^d$ is at least $C_d…

Classical Analysis and ODEs · Mathematics 2007-05-23 Alex Iosevich , Nets Katz , Steen Pedersen

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…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2023-11-28 Oliver Roche-Newton , Dmitrii Zhelezov

Erdos, Herzog and Piranian asked whether, for $n$ points in the plane with fixed diameter (maximum distance between points), an arrangement of a regular $n$-gon maximizes their product of all pairs of distances. Recently, it was discovered…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2025-12-17 Nat Sothanaphan

We prove that there exists a norm in the plane under which no n-point set determines more than O(n log n log log n) unit distances. Actually, most norms have this property, in the sense that their complement is a meager set in the metric…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2010-07-08 Jiří Matoušek

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…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2013-06-04 Micha Sharir , Adam Sheffer , József Solymosi

Kusner asked if $n+1$ points is the maximum number of points in $\mathbb{R}^n$ such that the $\ell_p$ distance $(1<p<\infty)$ between any two points is $1$. We present an improvement to the best known upper bound when $p$ is large in terms…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2021-11-23 Richard Chen , Feng Gui , Jason Tang , Nathan Xiong

The Erd\H{o}s-Anning theorem states that every point set in the Euclidean plane with integer distances must be either collinear or finite. More strongly, for any (non-degenerate) triangle of diameter~$\delta$, at most $O(\delta^2)$ points…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2026-04-13 David Eppstein

We consider a finite fields version of the Erd\H{o}s-Falconer distance problem for two different sets. In a certain range for the sizes of the two sets we obtain results of the conjectured order of magnitude.

Number Theory · Mathematics 2012-11-26 Rainer Dietmann

Let $\{a_1, . . . , a_n\}$ be a set of positive integers with $a_1 < \dots < a_n$ such that all $2^n$ subset sums are distinct. A famous conjecture by Erd\H{o}s states that $a_n>c\cdot 2^n$ for some constant $c$, while the best result known…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-10-31 Simone Costa , Marco Dalai , Stefano Della Fiore

In this paper, using the compression method, we recover the lower bound for the Erd\H{o}s unit distance problem and provide an alternative proof to the distinct distance conjecture. In particular, in $\mathbb{R}^k$ for all $k\geq 2$, we…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2026-05-07 Theophilus Agama

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…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-02-20 Micha Sharir , Jozsef Solymosi

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in the real plane contained in an algebraic curve $C$ of degree $d$. We prove that the number of distinct distances determined by $P$ is at least $c_d n^{4/3}$, unless $C$ contains a line or a circle. We also…

Metric Geometry · Mathematics 2016-07-20 János Pach , Frank de Zeeuw

We explore variants of Erd\H os' unit distance problem concerning dot products between successive pairs of points chosen from a large finite subset of either $\mathbb F_q^d$ or $\mathbb Z_q^d,$ where $q$ is a power of an odd prime.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-09-22 Vincent Blevins , David Crosby , Ethan Lynch , Steven Senger

We establish upper bounds for the size of two-distance sets in Euclidean space and spherical two-distance sets. The main recipe for obtaining upper bounds is the spectral method. We construct Seidel matrices to encode the distance relations…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-09-03 Wei-Chun Chen , Wei-Hsuan Yu

We introduce the theory of div point sets, which aims to provide a framework to study the combinatoric nature of any set of points in general position on an Euclidean plane. We then show that proving the unsatisfiability of some first-order…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-09-02 Archy Will He

In 1946, Erd\H{o}s posed the distinct distance problem, which seeks to find the minimum number of distinct distances between pairs of points selected from any configuration of $n$ points in the plane. The problem has since been explored…

The three distance theorem (also known as the three gap theorem or Steinhaus problem) states that, for any given real number $\alpha$ and integer $N$, there are at most three values for the distances between consecutive elements of the…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2021-07-12 Alan Haynes , Jens Marklof

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…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2011-06-29 Larry Guth , Nets Hawk Katz

In 1959, Erd\H{o}s and Moser asked for the maximum number of unit distances that may be formed among the vertices of a convex $n$-gon; until now, the best known upper bound has been $2\pi n \log_2 n + O(n)$, achieved by F\"uredi in 1990. In…

Computational Geometry · Computer Science 2014-12-10 Amol Aggarwal