Related papers: Minimum blocking sets for families of partitions

A partial Steiner triple system is is $sequenceable$ if the points can be sequenced so that no proper segment can be partitioned into blocks. We show that, if $0 \leq a \leq (n-1)/3$, then there exists a nonsequenceable PSTS$(n)$ of size…

A covering number of a family is the size of the smallest set that intersects all sets from the family. In 1978 Frankl determined for $n\ge n_0(k)$ the largest intersecting family of $k$-element subsets of $[n]$ with covering number $3$. In…

Tur\'{a}n number $T(n,5,3)$ is the minimum size of a system of triples out of a base set $X$ of $n$ elements such that every quintuple in $X$ contains a triple from the system. The exact values of $T(n,5,3)$ are known for $n \leq 17$.…

Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic $p>0$. Let $D$ be a $p$-divisible group over $k$. Let $n_D$ be the smallest non-negative integer for which the following statement holds: if $C$ is a $p$-divisible group over $k$ of…

The separation dimension of a graph $G$, written $\pi(G)$, is the minimum number of linear orderings of $V(G)$ such that every two nonincident edges are "separated" in some ordering, meaning that both endpoints of one edge appear before…

In a given graph $G$, a set $S$ of vertices with an assignment of colors is a {\sf defining set of the vertex coloring of $G$}, if there exists a unique extension of the colors of $S$ to a $\Cchi(G)$-coloring of the vertices of $G$. A…

A graph $G$ is $D$-distinguishable if there is a labeling of its vertices with $D$ labels such that the only automorphism of $G$ which preserves the labeling is the identity. The distinguishing number of $G$ is the minimum value $D$ for…

A $k$-partition of an $n$-set $X$ is a collection of $k$ pairwise disjoint non-empty subsets whose union is $X$. A family of $k$-partitions of $X$ is called $t$-intersecting if any two of its members share at least $t$ blocks. A…

We examine the following version of a classic combinatorial search problem introduced by R\'enyi: Given a finite set $X$ of $n$ elements we want to identify an unknown subset $Y \subset X$ of exactly $d$ elements by testing, by as few as…

We investigate decompositions of a graph into a small number of low diameter subgraphs. Let P(n,\epsilon,d) be the smallest k such that every graph G=(V,E) on n vertices has an edge partition E=E_0 \cup E_1 \cup ... \cup E_k such that |E_0|…

The Galvin problem asks for the minimum size of a family $\mathcal{F} \subseteq \binom{[n]}{n/2}$ with the property that, for any set $A$ of size $\frac n 2$, there is a set $S \in \mathcal{F}$ which is balanced on $A$, meaning that $|S…

A graph $G=(V,E)$ is called 1-planar if it admits a drawing in the plane such that each edge is crossed at most once. In this paper, we study bipartite $1$-planar graphs with prescribed numbers of vertices in partite sets. Bipartite…

Motivated by Pittel's study of minimally intersecting set partitions, we investigate minimally intersecting set partitions of type B. We find a formula for the number of minimally intersecting r-tuples of $B_n$-partitions, as well as a…

A graph G is distinguished if its vertices are labelled by a map \phi: V(G) \longrightarrow {1,2,...,k} so that no graph automorphism preserves \phi. The distinguishing number of G is the minimum number k necessary for \phi to distinguish…

We have found the minimal difference $\Delta(k) = \min\limits_P (f_{d-1}(P) - f_{0}(P))$ between the number of facets and the number of vertices of a $k$-neighborly $d$-polytope $P$ for the case $f_{0}(P) = d+3$: $\Delta(2) = 4$, $\Delta(3)…

A facet of an hyperplane arrangement is called external if it belongs to exactly one bounded cell. The set of all external facets forms the envelope of the arrangement. The number of external facets of a simple arrangement defined by $n$…

This paper explores the partition properties of roller coaster permutations, a class of permutations characterized by maximizing the number of alternating runs in all subsequences. We establish a connection between the structure of these…

A family $\mbox{$\cal F$}=\{F_1,\ldots,F_m\}$ of subsets of $[n]$ is said to be ordered, if there exists an $1\leq r\leq m$ index such that $n\in F_i$ for each $1\leq i\leq r$, $n\notin F_i$ for each $i>r$ and $|F_i|\leq |F_j|$ for each…

The work in this article is concerned with two different types of families of finite sets: separating families and splitting families (they are also called "systems"). These families have applications in combinatorial search, coding theory,…

The power graph of a group is the simple graph with vertices as the group elements, in which two distinct vertices are adjacent if and only if one of them can be obtained as an integral power of the other. We study (minimal) cut-sets of the…