Related papers: A combinatorial problem related to the classical p…

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of $k$-sized subsets of $[n]$ that does not contain $s$ pairwise disjoint subsets. The Erd\H{o}s Matching Conjecture, a celebrated and long-standing open problem in extremal combinatorics, asserts the maximum…

Hadamard's maximal determinant problem consists in finding the maximal value of the determinant of a square $n\times n$ matrix whose entries are plus or minus ones. This is a difficult mathematical problem which is not yet solved. In the…

We are lifting classical problems from single instances to regular sets of instances. The task of finding a positive instance of the combinatorial problem $P$ in a potentially infinite given regular set is equivalent to the so called…

This paper examines the classical matching distribution arising in the "problem of coincidences". We generalise the classical matching distribution with a preliminary round of allocation where items are correctly matched with some fixed…

Under large cardinal hypotheses beyond the Kunen inconsistency -- hypotheses so strong as to contradict the Axiom of Choice -- we solve several variants of the generalized continuum problem and identify structural features of the levels…

The Hadamard maximal determinant problem asks for the largest n-by-n determinant with entries in {+1,-1}. When n is congruent to 1 (mod 4), the maximal excess construction of Farmakis & Kounias has been the most successful general method…

We present a natural, combinatorial problem whose solution is given by the meta-Fibonacci recurrence relation $a(n) = \sum_{i=1}^p a(n-i+1 - a(n-i))$, where $p$ is prime. This combinatorial problem is less general than those given in [3]…

We determine, within 1, the value of N for which sum (s1 choose i)(s2 choose N)(s1 choose N-i)(N choose i) achieves its maximum value. Here s1 and s2 are fixed integers. This problem arises in studying the most likely value for the size of…

The $3x+1$ Problem asks if whether for every natural number $n$, there exists a finite number of iterations of the piecewise function $$f(2n)=n, \quad f(2n-1)=6n-2, $$ with an iterate equal to the number $1$, or in other words, every…

Let $D(n)$ be the maximal determinant for $n \times n$ $\{\pm 1\}$-matrices, and ${\mathcal R}(n) = D(n)/n^{n/2}$ be the ratio of $D(n)$ to the Hadamard upper bound. We give several new lower bounds on ${\mathcal R}(n)$ in terms of $d$,…

We analyze combinatorial optimization problems over a pair of random point sets of equal cardinal. Typical examples include the matching of minimal length, the traveling salesperson tour constrained to alternate between points of each set,…

Let $\mathcal A=\{A_1,\ldots,A_n\}$ be a family of sets in the plane. For $0 \leq i < n$, denote by $f_i$ the number of subsets $\sigma$ of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$ of cardinality $i+1$ that satisfy $\bigcap_{i \in \sigma} A_i \neq \emptyset$. Let…

Let $\mathcal{A}_1,\ldots,\mathcal{A}_m$ be families of $k$-subsets of an $n$-set. Suppose that one cannot choose pairwise disjoint edges from $s+1$ distinct families. Subject to this condition we investigate the maximum of…

A variant of the classical knapsack problem is considered in which each item is associated with an integer weight and a qualitative level. We define a dominance relation over the feasible subsets of the given item set and show that this…

The critical point between varieties A and B of algebras is defined as the least cardinality of the semilattice of compact congruences of a member of A but of no member of B, if it exists. The study of critical points gives rise to a whole…

The problem of separating classical from quantum correlations is in general intractable and has been solved explicitly only in few cases. In particular, known methods cannot provide general solutions for an arbitrary number of settings. We…

We show that the maximal determinant D(n) for $n \times n$ ${\pm 1}$-matrices satisfies $R(n) := D(n)/n^{n/2} \ge \kappa_d > 0$. Here $n^{n/2}$ is the Hadamard upper bound, and $\kappa_d$ depends only on $d := n-h$, where $h$ is the maximal…

Stable matching is a classical combinatorial problem that has been the subject of intense theoretical and empirical study since its introduction in 1962 in a seminal paper by Gale and Shapley. In this paper, we provide a new upper bound on…

We investigate properties of families $F$ of subsets of a finite set in a situation where subsets are incomparable by the binary inclusion relation and a) for any $A\notin F$, there is such set $A'\in F$ that either $A\subset A'$ or…

A classic theorem in combinatorial design theory is Fisher's inequality, which states that a family $\mathcal F$ of subsets of $[n]$ with all pairwise intersections of size $\lambda$ can have at most $n$ non-empty sets. One may weaken the…