Related papers: Non-dissective coverings by planks

This paper approaches, using structural complexity theory, the question of whether there is a chasm between knowing an object exists and getting one's hands on the object or its properties. In particular, we study the nontransparency of…

Let $P_{n}$ be a set of $n$ points, including the origin, in the unit square $U = [0,1]^2$. We consider the problem of constructing $n$ axis-parallel and mutually disjoint rectangles inside $U$ such that the bottom-left corner of each…

A permutation is $k$-coverable if it can be partitioned into $k$ monotone subsequences. Barber conjectured that, for any given permutation, if every subsequence of length $k+2 \choose 2$ is $k$-coverable then the permutation itself is…

We generalize the van Kampen theorem for unions of non-connected spaces, due to R. Brown and A. R. Salleh, to the context where families of subspaces of a space B are replaced by a locally sectionable map to B.

We prove that for any convex polygon $S$ with at least four sides, or a concave one with no parallel sides, and any $m>0$, there is an $m$-fold covering of the plane with homothetic copies of $S$ that cannot be decomposed into two…

We prove that octants are cover-decomposable, i.e., any 12-fold covering of any subset of the space with a finite number of translates of a given octant can be decomposed into two coverings. As a corollary, we obtain that any 12-fold…

We introduce a conjecture that we call the {\it Two Hyperplane Conjecture}, saying that an isoperimetric surface that divides a convex body in half by volume is trapped between parallel hyperplanes. The conjecture is motivated by an…

It has been known for more than 40 years that there are posets with planar cover graphs and arbitrarily large dimension. Recently, Streib and Trotter proved that such posets must have large height. In fact, all known constructions of such…

We consider four problems. Rogers proved that for any convex body $K$, we can cover ${\mathbb R}^d$ by translates of $K$ of density very roughly $d\ln d$. First, we extend this result by showing that, if we are given a family of positive…

We consider discretization of the 'geometric cover problem' in the plane: Given a set $P$ of $n$ points in the plane and a compact planar object $T_0$, find a minimum cardinality collection of planar translates of $T_0$ such that the union…

We prove the existence of subspace designs with any given parameters, provided that the dimension of the underlying space is sufficiently large in terms of the other parameters of the design and satisfies the obvious necessary divisibility…

An $N$-dimensional parallelepiped will be called a bar if and only if there are no more than $k$ different numbers among the lengths of its sides (the definition of bar depends on $k$). We prove that a parallelepiped can be dissected into…

We prove that if $G$ is an abelian group and $H_1x_1,\dots,H_{k}x_k$ is an irredundant (minimal) cover of $G$ with cosets, then $$|G:\bigcap_{i=1}^{k}H_{i}|=2^{O(k)}.$$ This bound is the best possible up to the constant hidden in the…

Hadwiger's theorem is a Helly-type theorem involving common transversals to families of convex sets instead of common intersections. Subsequently, Pollack and Wenger identified a necessary and sufficient condition, called a consistent…

A long-standing Conjecture of S. Negami states that a connected graph has a finite planar cover if and only if it embeds in the projective plane. It is known that the Conjecture is equivalent to the fact that \emph{the graph $K_{1,2, 2, 2}$…

Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in general position on the plane. A set of closed convex polygons with vertices in $P$, and with pairwise disjoint interiors is called a convex decomposition of $P$ if their union is the convex hull of $P$,…

We show that if $f\colon I\to I$ is piecewise monotone, post-critically finite, and locally eventually onto, then for every point $x\in X=\underleftarrow{\lim}(I,f)$ there exists a planar embedding of $X$ such that $x$ is accessible. In…

How can a stack of identical blocks be arranged to extend beyond the edge of a table as far as possible? We consider a generalization of this classic puzzle to blocks that differ in width and mass. Despite the seemingly simple premise, we…

Let $F$ be a non-zero polynomial with integer coefficients in $N$ variables of degree $M$. We prove the existence of an integral point of small height at which $F$ does not vanish. Our basic bound depends on $N$ and $M$ only. We separately…

The problem of separating structured information representing phenomena of differing natures is considered. A structure is assumed to be independent of the others if can be represented in a complementary subspace. When the concomitant…