On the lattice diameter of a convex polygon (Q5951925)

The lattice diameter \(\ell(P)\) of a convex polygon \(P\) measures the longest string of integer points on a line contained in \(P\), \[ \ell(P) = \max\{|P\cap {\mathbb Z}^2 \cap L|- 1 : L \text{ is a line}\}. \] The authors present several results that relate the lattice diameter to the area and the lattice width of \(P\), \(w_l(P)\). It is shown that \(w_l(P) \leq \lfloor \frac{4}{3} \ell(P)\rfloor +1\), which gives a discrete analogon of Blaschke's theorem. This bound for given \(\ell\) is best possible. The theorem is proven in several steps thus giving some other properties of the lattice diameter on the way. A non-zero vector \(u\in {\mathbb Z}^2\) is a diameter direction for the convex lattice polygon \(P\) if there is an integer \(z\) such that \(z\), \(z+u\), \dots, \(z+\ell(P)u\) all belong to \(P\). It is proven that the number of diameter directions \(N(P)\) is at most \(4\), if \(\ell(P)>1\). The proof is performed by a good description of convex lattice polygons that are maximal to containment with respect to \(\ell(P)=\ell\).