Related papers: A constructive version of the Sylvester-Gallai The…
This expository note presents a constructive proof of Wigner's theorem using only a few basic facts about Hilbert spaces, such as the existence of orthonormal bases and the Fourier decomposition of a vector. Our proof is based on a proof by…
This paper discusses a central theorem in birational geometry first proved by Eugenio Bertini in 1891. J.L. Coolidge described the main ideas behind Bertini's proof, but he attributed the theorem to Clebsch. He did so owing to a short note…
In 1951, Gabriel Dirac conjectured that every set P of n non-collinear points in the plane contains a point in at least n/2-c lines determined by P, for some constant c. The following weakening was proved by Beck and Szemer\'edi-Trotter:…
Consider a plane graph G, drawn with straight lines. For every pair a,b of vertices of G, we compare the shortest-path distance between a and b in G (with Euclidean edge lengths) to their actual distance in the plane. The worst-case ratio…
We show that if a finite point set $P\subseteq \mathbb{R}^2$ has the fewest congruence classes of triangles possible, up to a constant $M$, then at least one of the following holds. (1) There is a $\sigma>0$ and a line $l$ which contains…
In this paper we study some Erdos type problems in discrete geometry. Our main result is that we show that there is a planar point set of n points such that no four are collinear but no matter how we choose a subset of size $n^{5/6+o(1)} $…
A universal schema for diagonalization was popularized by N. S. Yanofsky (2003) in which the existence of a (diagonolized-out and contradictory) object implies the existence of a fixed-point for a certain function. It was shown that many…
In 1857 Sylvester stated a result on determinants without proof that was recognized as important over the subsequent century. Thus it was a surprise to Akritas, Akritas and Malaschonok when they found only one English proof - given by…
This article re-examines Lawvere's abstract, category-theoretic proof of the fixed-point theorem whose contrapositive is a `universal' diagonal argument. The main result is that the necessary axioms for both the fixed-point theorem and the…
We investigate the Hilbert scheme of points on a smooth threefold. We introduce a notion of broken Gorenstein structure for finite schemes, and show that its existence guarantees smoothness on the Hilbert scheme. Moreover, we conjecture…
The Gallai-Milgram theorem says that the vertex set of any digraph with stability number k can be partitioned into k directed paths. In 1990, Hahn and Jackson conjectured that this theorem is best possible in the following strong sense. For…
This paper introduces a space of variable lotteries and proves a constructive version of the expected utility theorem. The word ``constructive'' is used here in two senses. First, as in constructive mathematics, the logic underlying proofs…
After reviewing Bertini's life story, a fascinating drama, we make a critical examination of the old statements and proofs of Bertini's two fundamental theorems, the theorem on variable singular points and the theorem on reducible linear…
It is well known that several classical geometry problems (e.g., angle trisection) are unsolvable by compass and straightedge constructions. But what kind of object is proven to be non-existing by usual arguments? These arguments refer to…
The Erd\H{o}s-Szekeres conjecture states that any set of more than $2^{n-2}$ points in the plane with no three on a line contains the vertices of a convex $n$-gon. Erd\H{o}s, Tuza, and Valtr strengthened the conjecture by stating that any…
Given a graph $G$ and $\mathcal{A}\subseteq V(G)$, a classical theorem of Gallai (1964) states that for every positive integer $k$, the graph $G$ contains $k$ pairwise vertex-disjoint $\mathcal{A}$-paths, or a set $Z\subseteq V(G)$ of size…
The famous Szemer\'{e}di-Trotter theorem states that any arrangement of $n$ points and $n$ lines in the plane determines $O(n^{4/3})$ incidences, and this bound is tight. In this paper, we prove the following Tur\'an-type result for…
We prove in Theorem $2.2$ that the multiplicatively closed subset generated by at most two elements in the set of natural numbers $\mathbb{N}$ has arbitrarily large gaps by explicitly constructing large integer intervals with known prime…
The cycle double cover conjecture states that a graph is bridge-free if and only if there is a family of edge-simple cycles such that each edge is contained in exactly two of them. It was formulated independently by Szekeres (1973) and…
We try to bring to light some combinatorial structure underlying formal proofs in logic. We do this through the study of the Craig Interpolation Theorem which is properly a statement about the structure of formal derivations. We show that…