Lengthening a tetrahedron (Q2256253)

The paper under review proves that if \(T=A_1A_2A_3A_4\) is a tetrahedron with side lengths \(|A_i A_j| = d_{ij}\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,2,3,4\}\), then (i) there exists a tetrahedron \(T'=B_1B_2B_3B_4\) with \(|B_i B_j| = d_{ij} + 1\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,2,3,4\}\), and (ii) \(\text{vol} (T')/\text{vol} (T) \geq (1 + 6/s)^3\), where \(s\) is the sum of edge lengths of \(T\), and where \(\text{vol}\) stands for the volume. Both parts (i) and (ii) are highly non-trivial. The reviewer wants to point out a possible analogue of the result above (i.e., of part (ii)) for triangles. As for higher dimensions, the author does state that if \(S=A_1A_2\cdots A_{d+1}\) is a \(d\)-simplex with \(|A_i A_j| = d_{ij}\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,\cdots,d+1\}\), then (i) there exists a \(d\)-simplex \(S'=B_1B_2\cdots B_{d+1}\) with \(|B_i B_j| = d_{ij} + 1\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,\cdots,d+1\}\), and (ii) \(\text{vol}(T') > \text{vol} (T).\) He sketches, in an appendix, a proof of this result that is based on a theorem of von Neumann. The proof of the tetrahedral inequality given in (ii) is shown to follow from the positivity of a certain quantity \(Q\) that involves the Cayley-Menger determinant and one of its directional derivatives. The positivity of \(Q\) is then reduced to the positivity of a certain polynomial \(P\) with integer coefficients, which in turn is shown to follow from an interesting lemma that the author had devised in an earlier paper. The implementation of that lemma, however, makes heavy use of computer packages. It is worth mentioning the following additional problem not addressed in the paper under review: In Problem A2 of the 65th annual William Lowell Putnam mathematical competition, it is asked to show that if \(T=A_1A_2A_3\) and \(T'=B_1B_2B_3\) are triangles with \(|B_i B_j| \geq |A_i A_j|\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,2,3\}\), and if \(T'\) is acute, then area (\(T'\)) \(\geq\) area (\(T\)). For a generalization of this to higher dimensions \(d\), it would be required to find a family \(\mathcal{A}\) of \(d\)-simplices (that would play the role of acute triangles) such that if \(S=A_1A_2\cdots A_{d+1}\) and \(S'=B_1B_2 \cdots B_{d+1}\) are two \(d\)-simplices with \(|B_i B_j| \geq |A_i A_j|\) for all distinct \(i\) and \(j\) in \(\{1,\cdots,d+1\}\), and if \(S'\) belongs to \(\mathcal{A}\), then \(\text{vol}(S') \geq \text{vol} (S)\).