Related papers: On sets of points with few odd secants

Let SL(2,q) be the group of 2X2 matrices with determinant one over a finite field F of size q. We prove that if q is even, then the product of any two noncentral conjugacy classes of SL(2,q) is the union of at least q-1 distinct conjugacy…

Given a finite set of points $C \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d$, we say that an ordering of $C$ is protrusive if every point lies outside the convex hull of the points preceding it. We give an example of a set $C$ of $5$ points in the Euclidean…

The aim of this paper is to prove that if a planar set $A$ has a difference set $\Delta(A)$ satisfying $\Delta(A)\subset \Z^++s$ for suitable $s$ than $A$ has at most 3 elements. This result is motivated by the conjecture that the disk has…

A family of sets has the $(p,q)$ property if among any $p$ members of the family some $q$ have a nonempty intersection. It is shown that for every $p\ge q\ge d+1$ there is a $c=c(p,q,d)<\infty$ such that for every family $\scr F$ of…

Given two irreducible conics $C$ and $D$ over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$ with $q$ odd, we show that there are $q^2/4+O(q^{3/2})$ points $P$ in $\mathbb{P}^2(\mathbb{F}_q)$ such that $P$ is external to $C$ and internal to $D$. This…

We show that for any finite set $P$ of points in the plane and $\epsilon>0$ there exist $\displaystyle O\left(\frac{1}{\epsilon^{3/2+\gamma}}\right)$ points in ${\mathbb{R}}^2$, for arbitrary small $\gamma>0$, that pierce every convex set…

The square peg problem asks whether every Jordan curve in the plane has four points which form a square. The problem has been resolved (positively) for various classes of curves, but remains open in full generality. We present two new…

Let $S$ be a finite set of points in the plane and let $\mathcal{T}(S)$ be the set of intersection points between pairs of lines passing through any two points in $S$. We characterize all configurations of points $S$ such that iteration of…

Let $p$ be an odd prime and let $E\subset \mathbb{F}_p^2$ with $|E|=p^a$, where $0<a\le 1$. For a direction $V$ (a $1$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{F}_p^2$), let $\pi^V:\mathbb{F}_p^2\to \mathbb{F}_p^2/V$ denote the quotient map. We…

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in the plane that determines at most $n/5$ distinct distances. We show that no line can contain more than $O(n^{43/52}{\rm polylog}(n))$ points of $P$. We also show a similar result for rectangular distances,…

In this short note, we study the distribution of spreads in a point set $\mathcal{P} \subseteq \mathbb{F}_q^d$, which are analogous to angles in Euclidean space. More precisely, we prove that, for any $\varepsilon > 0$, if $|\mathcal{P}|…

A set in $\mathbb R^d$ is called almost-equidistant if for any three distinct points in the set, some two are at unit distance apart. First, we give a short proof of the result of Bezdek and L\'angi claiming that an almost-equidistant set…

In the three-dimensional projective space PG(3,q) over the finite field F_q with q elements, we consider the normal rational curve known as a twisted cubic and the projectivity group G_q that fixes it. For q = 2, 3, 4, we solve the open…

It is shown that two vectors with coordinates in the finite $q$-element field of characteristic $p$ belong to the same orbit under the natural action of the symmetric group if each of the elementary symmetric polynomials of degree…

This is an extended version of an invited lecture I gave at the Journees Arithmetiques in St. Etienne in July 2009. We discuss the state of the art regarding the problem of finding the set of rational points on a (smooth projective)…

We determine non hyper elliptic curves of genus $g(C)\geq 9$, such that for some very ample line bundle on them and for some integers d and r with some prescribed assumptions, the dimension of secant loci, attains one less than its maximum…

We consider a non-degenerate conic in $\PG(2,q^2)$, $q$ odd, that is tangent to $\ell_\infty$ and look at its structure in the Bruck-Bose representation in $\PG(4,q)$. We determine which combinatorial properties of this set of points in…

We prove that any set of points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, any three of which form an angle less than $\frac{\pi}{3} + c$, has size $(1+\Theta(c))^d$ for sufficiently small $c>0$. The proof is based on a refinement of an approach by Erd\H{o}s and…

In this paper, we characterise ovoidal cones by their intersection numbers. We first show that a set of points of $\mathrm{PG}(4,q)$ which intersects planes in $1$, $q+1$ or $2q+1$ points is either an ovoidal cone or a parabolic quadric,…

Let $E \subseteq \mathbb{F}_q^2$ be a set in the 2-dimensional vector space over a finite field with $q$ elements, which satisfies $|E| > q$. There exist $x,y \in E$ such that $|E \cdot (y-x)| > q/2.$ In particular, $(E+E) \cdot (E-E) =…