Bounding Radon numbers via Betti numbers (Q6624399)

Radon's theorem says that any set of \(d+2\) points in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) has a partition into two subsets whose convex hulls intersect: we say the \textit{Radon number} \(r(\mathbb{R}^d)\) is \(d+2\). There are well-known links between the theorems of Radon, Helly, and Carathéodory.\N\NReplacing the convex sets by some other family \(\mathcal{F}\) in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) gives another hull operator which may have its own Radon numbers. Considering \(\mathcal{F}\) as an intersectional complex, the author links the supremum of its first \( \lceil d/2 \rceil\) Betti numbers (the ``homological complexity'') to the \(\mathcal {F}\)-Radon number. She also derives several fractional Helly theorems, but gives a simple example to show that bounded homological complexity does not imply a bound on Carathéodory numbers.