Bichromatic lines with few points (Q1570762)
From MaRDI portal
scientific article
Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
---|---|---|---|
English | Bichromatic lines with few points |
scientific article |
Statements
Bichromatic lines with few points (English)
0 references
4 March 2001
0 references
According to a celebrated result of \textit{J. Sylvester} [Educational Times 59, 98-99 (1893)] and \textit{T. Gallai} [Am. Math. Monthly 51, 169-171 (1944)], any set \(P\) of non-collinear points in the plane determines a so-called ordinary line, i. e., a line passing through precisely two elements of \(P\). Recently, K. Fukuda [see the paper of \textit{P. F. Da Silva} and \textit{K. Fukuda}, J. Geom. 62, 48-65 (1998; Zbl 0938.52012)] conjectured that this result can be generalized as follows. Let \(R\) be a set of red points and let \(B\) be a set of blue points, not all on a line. Assume that (i) \(R\) and \(B\) separated by a straight line, and (ii) \(|R|\) and \(|B|\) differ by at most one. Then there exists a bichromatic ordinary line, i.e., a line passing through precisely one red and one blue point. The authors remark that this statement does not remain true if we drop any of the above assumptions. The aim of the present note is to show that there always exist bichromatic lines containing relatively few points of \(R\cup B\). In particular, it is shown that if \(|R|=|B|=n\) then there exist more than \(n/2\) bichromatic lines passing through at most two red points and at most two blue points.
0 references
combinatorial geometry on the plane
0 references
isolating points by lines
0 references
bichromatic line
0 references