Elements belonging to triangles in 3-connected matroids (Q2433737)

The author proves the following two theorems: Theorem 1. If \(M\) is a 3-connected matroid such that \(| E(M)| \geq 8\), then there are at least \({5 | E(M)| + 30 -15k \over 9}\) elements of \(M\) meeting some triangle of \(M\). Theorem 2. If \(M\) is a 3-connected matroid such that \(| E(M)| \geq 8\) and \(r(M) \geq 3\), then there are at least \({5r^*(M) +30-10k \over 7} \)elements of \(M\) meeting some triangle of \(M\). The author proves these results are sharp by constructing an infinite family of matroids that attain the bounds. An element \(e\) of a 3-connected matroid \(M\) is said to be superfluous provided \(M/e\) is 3-connected. Combining the above theorems, the author shows that a 3-connected matroid \(M\) with exactly \(k\) superfluous elements has at least \[ \max \bigg\{ {5 | E(M)| + 30 -15k \over 9},\;{5r^*(M) +30-10k \over 7}\bigg\} \] elements covered by triangles.