The probability of choosing primitive sets (Q884519)

A theorem of Nymann states that if a point \(\left( x_1, x_2, \dots, x_d \right) \in {\mathbb Z}^d\) is chosen at random, then the probability that the point is visible from the origin (i.e., \(\gcd \left( x_1, x_2, \dots, x_d \right) = 1\)) is \({1 \over { \zeta(d) }}\), where \(\zeta (z) = \sum_{ k \geq 1 } k^{ -z }\) is the Riemann zeta function. The condition that \(x = \left( x_1, x_2, \dots, x_d \right)\) is visible from the origin is equivalent to saying that \(\{ x \}\) is a \({\mathbb Z}\)-basis for the lattice \(\text{ span}_{ \mathbb R } (x) \cap {\mathbb Z}^d\). In general, given a set \(S = \left\{ s_1, s_2, \dots, s_m \right\} \subset {\mathbb Z}^d\), where \(1 \leq m \leq d\), we say that \(S\) is primitive if \(S\) is a \({\mathbb Z}\)-basis for the lattice \(\text{ span}_{ \mathbb R } (S) \cap {\mathbb Z}^d\). The main result of the paper under review states that if \(S\) is chosen ``at random'' (specified precisely in the paper), then the probability that \(S\) is primitive is \[ {1 \over { \zeta(d) \zeta(d-1) \cdots \zeta(d-m+1) }} \, . \] The proof uses concepts from triangulations of point sets, metric geometry of polytopes, analytic number theory, and the geometry of numbers.