English

On the Width of the Regular $n$-Simplex

Computational Geometry 2023-01-09 v1

Abstract

Consider the regular nn-simplex Δn\Delta_n - it is formed by the convex-hull of n+1n+1 points in Euclidean space, with each pair of points being in distance exactly one from each other. We prove an exact bound on the width of Δn\Delta_n which is 2/n\approx \sqrt{2/n}. Specifically, width(Δn)=2n+1 \mathrm{width}(\Delta_n) = \sqrt{\frac{2}{n + 1}} if nn is odd, and width(Δn)=2(n+1)n(n+2) \mathrm{width}(\Delta_n) = \sqrt{\frac{2(n+1)}{n(n+2)}} if nn is even. While this bound is well known [GK92, Ale77], we provide a self-contained elementary proof that might (or might not) be of interest.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2301.02616,
  title  = {On the Width of the Regular $n$-Simplex},
  author = {Sariel Har-Peled and Eliot W. Robson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.02616},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T08:05:21.809Z