Finite sets as complements of finite unions of convex sets (Q2391197)

The authors study a natural question: Let \( S \subset \mathbb{R}^d \) be a finite set of cardinality \( n \). What is the smallest value of cardinality \( k \) of a collection of convex sets \( C_1, \ldots C_k \subset \mathbb{R}^d \) such that \( C_1 \cup C_2 \ldots \cup C_k = \mathbb{R}^d \setminus S \)? In the case of open sets \( C_1, \ldots C_k \) the upper and lower bounds of this number \( k \) are shown. The opposite case, when these convex sets \( C_1, \ldots C_k \) are not assumed to be open, is more complicated. Here, the authors obtain similar estimates for finite sets affinely spanning the ambient space \(\mathbb{R}^d \). Some useful examples and open questions concerning these estimates and their relations to the graph theory constructions are listed.