On a matching problem in the plane (Q1969786)

We are given a finite set \(S\) of \(n = w + b\) points in the plane, where \(w\) of them are white and \(b\) of them are black. The points of \(S\) are assumed to be in general position, i.e. no three of them are on a line. The task is to find a matching \(F(S)\) that only matches points of the same color, that has no crossings between the line segments that join matched points, and which leaves the smallest number of points of \(S\) unmatched. In other words, we would like to minimize the number of independent points in \(S\). In the case where \(w\) and \(b\) (and therefore also \(n\)) are even a lower bound of \(\frac{5}{6}\) and an upper bound of \(\frac{155}{156}\) for the minimal number of independent points in \(S\) is derived. Also some results are given for the case with no restriction on the parity of \(n\), \(w\) and \(b\). These results include some special cases and a relation between the parity restricted bound and the general case. Also the generalization of this problem to a fixed number of colors, where each color set contains an even number of points and only points of the same color are to be matched with non-intersecting segments is briefly discussed.