Related papers: A note on piercing discrete rectangles

We provide a geometric proof of the $(\aleph_{0}, d+1)$-theorem for piercing compact connected sets by hyperplanes. Our argument uses only elementary properties of convex sets and clarifies the core geometric structure behind the theorem.

Let $\mathcal{F}$ be a family of $n$ axis-parallel boxes in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and $\alpha\in (1-1/d,1]$ a real number. There exists a real number $\beta(\alpha )>0$ such that if there are $\alpha {n\choose 2}$ intersecting pairs in…

We show that very weak topological assumptions are enough to ensure the existence of a Helly-type theorem. More precisely, we show that for any non-negative integers $b$ and $d$ there exists an integer $h(b,d)$ such that the following…

Let $X$ be a convex curve in the plane (say, the unit circle), and let $\mathcal S$ be a family of planar convex bodies, such that every two of them meet at a point of $X$. Then $\mathcal S$ has a transversal $N\subset\mathbb R^2$ of size…

We provide a new quantitative version of Helly's theorem: there exists an absolute constant $\alpha >1$ with the following property: if $\{P_i: i\in I\}$ is a finite family of convex bodies in ${\mathbb R}^n$ with ${\rm int}\left…

Two celebrated extensions of Helly's theorem are the Fractional Helly theorem of Katchalski and Liu (1979) and the Quantitative Volume theorem of B\'ar\'any, Katchalski, and Pach (1982). Improving on several recent works, we prove an…

An infinite $(p,q)$-theorem, or an $(\aleph_0,q)$-theorem, involving two families $\mathcal{F}$ and $\mathcal{G}$ of sets, states that if in every infinite subset of $\mathcal{F}$, there are $q$ sets that are intersected by some set in…

Selection lemmas are classical results in discrete geometry that have been well studied and have applications in many geometric problems like weak epsilon nets and slimming Delaunay triangulations. Selection lemma type results typically…

The 1913 Helly's theorem states that any family ${\cal K}$ of $n\geq d+1$ convex sets in ${\mathbb R}^d$ can be pierced by a single point if and only if any $d+1$ of ${\cal K}$'s elements can. In 2002 Alon, Kalai, Matou\v{s}ek and Meshulam…

Let $P$ be a set of points in the plane and let $T$ be a maximum-weight spanning tree of $P$. For an edge $(p,q)$, let $D_{pq}$ be the diametral disk induced by $(p,q)$, i.e., the disk having the segment $\overline{pq}$ as its diameter. Let…

An $\epsilon$-net theorem for a hypergraph upper bounds the minimum size of a vertex set that pierces all $\epsilon$-heavy hyperedges. A $(p,2)$-theorem bounds from above the minimum size of a vertex set that pierces all hyperedges, in…

We obtain three Helly-type results. First, we establish a Quantitative Colorful Helly-type theorem with the optimal Helly number \(2d\) concerning the diameter of the intersection of a family of convex bodies. Second, we prove a…

Separating hash families are useful combinatorial structures which generalize several well-studied objects in cryptography and coding theory. Let $p_t(N, q)$ denote the maximum size of universe for a $t$-perfect hash family of length $N$…

We prove a new fractional Helly theorem for families of sets obeying topological conditions. More precisely, we show that the nerve of a finite family of open sets (and of subcomplexes of cell complexes) in R^d is k-Leray where k depends on…

We prove general topological Radon-type theorems for sets in $\mathbb R^d$ or on a surface. Combined with a recent result of Holmsen and Lee, we also obtain fractional Helly theorem, and consequently the existence of weak $\varepsilon$-nets…

A hollow axis-aligned box is the boundary of the cartesian product of $d$ compact intervals in R^d. We show that for d\geq 3, if any 2^d of a collection of hollow axis-aligned boxes have non-empty intersection, then the whole collection has…

Hadwiger and Debrunner showed that for families of convex sets in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with the property that among any $p$ of them some $q$ have a common point, the whole family can be stabbed with $p-q+1$ points if $p \geq q \geq d+1$ and…

We consider quantitative versions of Helly-type questions, that is, instead of finding a point in the intersection, we bound the volume of the intersection. Our first main geometric result is a quantitative version of the Fractional Helly…

A symmetric subset of the reals is one that remains invariant under some reflection x --> c-x. Given 0 < x < 1, there exists a real number D(x) with the following property: if 0 < d < D(x), then every subset of [0,1] with measure x contains…

A family of sets satisfies the $(p,q)$ property if among every $p$ members of it some $q$ intersect. Given a number $0<r\le 1$, a set $S\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ is called $r$-fat if there exists a point $c\in S$ such that $B(c,r) \subseteq…