Local convexity of metric balls (Q1647816)

The main topic of this paper is the study and the comparison of balls defined by several hyperbolic type metrics in \({\mathbb R}^n\). For the triangular ratio metric, defined for a proper domain \(G\subset {\mathbb R}^n\) by \[ s_G(x,y)=\sup_{z \in \partial G}\frac{|x-y|}{|x-z|+|z-y|}, \] it is shown that the \(s\)-ball with center \(z\) and radius \(r\) is Euclidean starlike with respect to \(z\) for all \(z\in G\) and all \(r\in (0,1]\). Balls determined by various other metrics, such as the quasihyperbolic metric, the distance ratio metric, the visual angle metric, and the point pair function, are then compared to that determined by the triangle metric and among themselves. The methods are computational throughout.