The number of generalized balanced lines (Q603873)

If one considers a set \(S\) in the plane consisting of \(r\) ``red'' points and \(b=r + 2\delta\) ``blue'' points in general position (with \(\delta \geq 0\)), then a line \(\ell\) determined by them is called \textit{balanced} if the difference between the number of blue and red points is \(\delta\) in each of the two half-planes determined by \(\ell\). Using a new technique called \textit{sliding rotations}, which is a generalization inspired by the work of Erdös and others [\textit{P. Erdös}, \textit{L. Lovász}, \textit{A. Simmons}, and \textit{E. G. Straus}, Survey Combin. Theory, Sympos. Colorado State Univ., Colorado 1971, 139--149 (1973; Zbl 0254.00005)], the authors prove the following: For a set \(S\) and numbers \(r, b\) and \(\delta\) as above, the number of balanced lines determined by \(S\) is at least \(r\), and this lower bound is attained if the red and blue subsets can be separated by a line. As a consequence, the case when \(\delta = 0\) yields a proof of a conjecture due to Baloglou (which was also proved by Pach and Pinchasi using circular sequences [\textit{J. Pach} and \textit{R. Pinchasi}, Discrete Comput. Geom. 25, No. 4, 611--628 (2001; Zbl 0988.52026)]): For \(|R|=|B|=n\), every set \(S\) as above determines at least \(n\) balanced lines (and the bound is tight).