A product inequality for extreme distances (Q2175441)

This paper considers a question somewhat in the same spirit as the Erdős unit distance problem, but with a focus on the extreme distances. Given a set \(P \subset \mathbb R^2\) of \(n\) points in the plane, let \(d_{\min}\) denote the minimum distance between two distinct points of \(P\), and let \(d_{\max}\) denote the maximum distance. Let \(s_{\min}\) denote the number of unordered pairs of elements of \(P\) which are a distance \(d_{\min}\) apart, and let \(s_{\max}\) denote the number of unordered pairs of elements of \(P\) which are a distance \(d_{\max}\) apart. How large can the product \(s_{\min}\cdot s_{\max}\) possibly be (as a function of \(n\))? This is the question which is answered here. A construction of Makai Jr. shows that it is possible to have \[ s_{\min}\cdot s_{\max} \geq \frac{9}{8}n^{2} - O(n^{3/2}). \] This construction is illustrated nicely in the paper under review. The main result of this paper provides an essentially matching upper bound for this product, thus answering a question of \textit{P. Erdős} and \textit{J. Pach} [Combinatorica 10, No. 3, 261--269 (1990; Zbl 0722.52009)]. It is proven that \[ s_{\min}\cdot s_{\max} \leq \frac{9}{8}n^{2} + O(n). \]