Orthant spanning simplexes with minimal volume (Q1415239)

Summary: A geometry problem is to find an \((n-1)\)-dimensional simplex in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) of minimal volume with vertices on the positive coordinate axes, and constrained to pass through a given point \(A\) in the first orthant. In this paper, it is shown that the optimal simplex is identified by the only positive root of a \((2^{n}-1)\)-degree polynomial \(p_{n}(t)\). The roots of \(p_n(t)\) cannot be expressed using radicals when the coordinates of \(A\) are transcendental over \(\mathbb Q\), for \(3 \leq n \leq 15\), and supposedly for every \(n\). Furthermore, limited to dimension \(3\), parametric representations are given to points \(A\) to which correspond triangles of minimal area with integer vertex coordinates and area.