Fifty years of the Erdős similarity conjecture (Q7015869)

A non-trivial affine copy of a set \(A\subset \mathbb{R}\) is the image of an affine map \(\lambda A+t\) where \(\lambda\ne 0\) and \(t\in \mathbb{R}\). Let \(\mathcal{S}\) be a collection of subsets in \(\mathbb{R}\). We say that a set \(A \subseteq \mathbb{R}^d\) is universal in \(\mathcal{S}\) if every set \(E \in \mathcal{S}\) contains a nontrivial affine copy of \(A\). We call a set \(A \subset \mathbb{R}\) measure universal if it is universal in the collection of all measurable subsets of \(\mathbb{R}\) that have positive Lebesgue measure. In 1974, \textit{P. Erdős} [Math. Balk. 4, 197--202 (1974; Zbl 0313.10045)] asked whether finite sets are in fact the only sets that are measure universal, by proposing the question that: Does there exist an infinite set \(A \subset \mathbb{R}\) that is measure universal? His hope of being no such sets is known as the Erdős similarity conjecture. There have been several important developments on this problem between 1974 and 1999. More recently, new progress in the last few years has reinvigorated interest in this research area. In the survey paper under review, the authors highlight these recent advancements and provide the reader with an overview of the current status of the problem.