Level triangles on a surface with boundary (Q1060427)

The following problem is studied: given a compact surface \(M\subseteq E^ 3\) (not necessarily differentiable) and a continuous map \(f: M\to [0,\infty)\) vanishing on \(\partial M\) (if there is a nonempty boundary) and a euclidean triangle \(\Delta\), does there exist a level set \(f^{- 1}(a)\) which contains the vertices of a triangle \(\Delta_ f\) congruent to \(\Delta\) ? In general the answer will be ''no'', e.g. if \(\Delta\) is too large. In the present paper it is shown that the answer is ''yes'' under the assumptions that the surface has nonempty boundary ad is \(C^ 1\)- embedded in \(E^ 3\) and furthermore that the diameter of \(\Delta\) is bounded by a certain constant \(\sigma >0\) which depends on M. In addition, if \(\chi\) (M)\(\neq 0\) then one may prescribe the direction of \(\Delta_ f\) in a certain sense. By counterexamples it is shown that none of the assumptions can be omitted.