Related papers: Many unit distances requires many directions
We prove that the number of unit distances among $n$ planar points is at most $1.94\cdot n^{4/3}$, improving on the previous best bound of $8n^{4/3}$. We also give better upper and lower bounds for several small values of $n$. We also prove…
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…
The Erd\H os unit distance conjecture in the plane says that the number of pairs of points from a point set of size $n$ separated by a fixed (Euclidean) distance is $\leq C_{\epsilon} n^{1+\epsilon}$ for any $\epsilon>0$. The best known…
We show that the number of unit distances determined by n points in R^3 is O(n^{3/2}), slightly improving the bound of Clarkson et al. established in 1990. The new proof uses the recently introduced polynomial partitioning technique of Guth…
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…
We show that for $m$ points and $n$ lines in the real plane, the number of distinct distances between the points and the lines is $\Omega(m^{1/5}n^{3/5})$, as long as $m^{1/2}\le n\le m^2$. We also prove that for any $m$ points in the…
According to a classical result of Spencer, Szemer\'edi, and Trotter (1984), the maximum number of times the unit distance can occur among $n$ points in the plane is $O(n^{4/3})$. This is far from Erd\H{o}s's lower bound, $n^{1+O(1/\log\log…
We consider the number of distinct distances between two finite sets of points in ${\bf R}^k$, for any constant dimension $k\ge 2$, where one set $P_1$ consists of $n$ points on a line $l$, and the other set $P_2$ consists of $m$ arbitrary…
In this paper we show that the number of distinct distances determined by a set of $n$ points on a constant-degree two-dimensional algebraic variety $V$ (i.e., a surface) in $\mathbb R^3$ is at least $\Omega\left(n^{7/9}/{\rm polylog}…
We show that the maximum number of unit distances or of diameters in a set of n points in d-dimensional Euclidean space is attained only by specific types of Lenz constructions, for all d >= 4 and n sufficiently large, depending on d. As a…
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,…
This is an incomplete attempt to show that the upper bound of $\lesssim n^\frac{4}{3}$ on the number unit distances determined by a large finite set of $n$ points in the plane is not sharp. The methods also say something about sets of $n$…
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…
We show that the number of unit-area triangles determined by a set $S$ of $n$ points in the plane is $O(n^{20/9})$, improving the earlier bound $O(n^{9/4})$ of Apfelbaum and Sharir [Discrete Comput. Geom., 2010]. We also consider two…
It is shown that given a set of $N$ points in the plane or on the sphere, there is a subset of size $\gtrsim N^{1/3}/\log N$ with all pairwise distances between points distinct.
We study the structure of planar point sets that determine a small number of distinct distances. Specifically, we show that if a set P of n points determines o(n) distinct distances, then no line contains \Omega(n^{7/8}) points of P and no…
We consider the problem of determining the number of distinct distances between two point sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ where one point set $\mathcal{P}_1$ of size $m$ lies on a real algebraic curve of fixed degree $r$, and the other point set…
We show that there exists an absolute positive constant $b (\geq \frac{1}{48})$ so that any set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ that is $d$-dimensional determines at least $bdn$ lines with pairwise distinct directions. As a consequence we…
We prove that every set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^3$ spans $O(n^{295/197+\epsilon})$ unit distances. This is an improvement over the previous bound of $O(n^{3/2})$. A key ingredient in the proof is a new result for cutting circles in…
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…