On the relative distances of seven points in a plane convex body

Let C be a convex body in the Euclidean plane. The relative distance of points p and q is twice the Euclidean distance of p and q divided by the Euclidean length of a longest chord in C with the direction, say, from p to q. We prove that, among any seven points of a plane convex body, there are two points at relative distance at most one, and one cannot be replaced by a smaller value. We apply our result to determine the diameter of point sets in normed planes. Zsolt Lángi: Partially supported by the Hung. Nat. Sci. Found. (OTKA), grant no. T043556 and T037752 and by the Alberta Ingenuity Fund.     

On the mean number of normals through a point in the interior of a convex body

Recently, Kathy Hann established bounds on the average number of normals through a point in a convex bodyK, in the cases whereK is either a polytope or sufficiently smooth. In addition, an Euler-type theorem was obtained for these particular classes of convex bodies. In the present work we show that all these statements are true for an arbitrary convex bodyK. For this purpose measure geometric tools and a general approximation technique will be essential.     

Minimal and reduced pairs of convex bodies

We give a new proof for the existence and uniqueness (up to translation) of plane minimal pairs of convex bodies in a given equivalence class of the Hörmander-R»dström lattice, as well as a complete characterization of plane minimal pairs using surface area measures. Moreover, we introduce the so-called reduced pairs, which are special minimal pairs. For the plane case, we characterize reduced pairs as those pairs of convex bodies whose surface area measures are mutually singular. For higher dimensions, we give two sufficient conditions for the minimality of a pair of convex polytopes, as well as a necessary and sufficient criterion for a pair of convex polytopes to be reduced. We conclude by showing that a typical pair of convex bodies, in the sense of Baire category, is reduced, and hence the unique minimal pair in its equivalence class.     

On the equipartition of plane convex bodies and convex polygons

In this paper we consider the problem of partitioning a plane compact convex body into equal-area parts, i.e., an equipartition, by means of chords. We prove two basic results that hold with some specific exceptions: (a) When chords are pairwise non-crossing, the dual tree of the partition has to be a path, (b) A convex n-gon admits no equipartition produced by more than n chords having a common interior point.     

On a convex operator for finite sets

Let S be a finite set with m elements in a real linear space and let J_S be a set of m intervals in R. We introduce a convex operator co(S,J_S) which generalizes the familiar concepts of the convex hull, , and the affine hull, , of S. We prove that each homothet of that is contained in can be obtained using this operator. A variety of convex subsets of with interesting combinatorial properties can also be obtained. For example, this operator can assign a regular dodecagon to the 4-element set consisting of the vertices and the orthocenter of an equilateral triangle. For two types of families J_S we give two different upper bounds for the number of vertices of the polytopes produced as co(S,J_S). Our motivation comes from a recent improvement of the well-known Gauss-Lucas theorem. It turns out that a particular convex set co(S,J_S) plays a central role in this improvement.     

On the Sobolev distance of convex bodies

Summary LetK ^d denote the cone of all convex bodies in the Euclidean spaceK ^d . The mappingK h _K of each bodyK K ^d onto its support function induces a metric _w onK ^d by" _w (K, L)h _L –h _{K w} where _w is the Sobolev I-norm on the unit sphere . We call _w (K, L) the Sobolev distance ofK andL. The goal of our paper is to develop some fundamental properties of the Sobolev distance.     

The cross-section body, plane sections of convex bodies and approximation of convex bodies, I

For a convex body K ^d we investigate three associated bodies, its intersection body IK (for 0int K), cross-section body CK, and projection body IIK, which satisfy IKCKIIK. Conversely we prove CKconst₁(d)I(K–x) for some xint K, and IIKconst₂ (d)CK, for certain constants, the first constant being sharp. We estimate the maximal k-volume of sections of 1/2(K+(-K)) with k-planes parallel to a fixed k-plane by the analogous quantity for K; our inequality is, if only k is fixed, sharp. For L ^d a convex body, we take n random segments in L, and consider their Minkowski average D. We prove that, for V(L) fixed, the supremum of V(D) (with also nN arbitrary) is minimal for L an ellipsoid. This result implies the Petty projection inequality about max V((IIM)*), for M ^d a convex body, with V(M) fixed. We compare the volumes of projections of convex bodies and the volumes of the projections of their sections, and, dually, the volumes of sections of convex bodies and the volumes of sections of their circumscribed cylinders. For fixed n, the pth moments of V(D) (1p<) also are minimized, for V(L) fixed, by the ellipsoids. For k=2, the supremum (nN arbitrary) and the pth moment (n fixed) of V(D) are maximized for example by triangles, and, for L centrally symmetric, for example by parallelograms. Last we discuss some examples for cross-section bodies.Research (partially) supported by Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research, Grant No. 41.     

On the volume of convex hulls of sets on spheres

We prove that for a measurable subset of S ^n–1 with fixed Haar measure, the volume of its convex hull is minimized for a cap (i.e. a ball with respect to the geodesic measure). We solve a similar problem for symmetric sets and n=2, 3. As a consequence, we deduce a result concerning Gaussian measures of dilatations of convex, symmetric sets in R ² and R ³.Partially supported by KBN (Poland), Grant No. 2 1094 91 01.     

On relatively short and long sides of convex pentagons

By the relative distance of pointsa andb of a convex bodyC we mean the ratio of the Euclidean distance ofa andb to the half of the Euclidean distance ofa, b C such thatab is a longest chord ofC parallel to the segmentab. We say that a sideab of a convexn-gon is relatively short (respectively: relatively long) if the relative distance ofa andb is at most (respectively: at least) the relative distance of two consecutive vertices of the regularn-gon. We show that every convexn-gon, wheren 5, has a relatively short side and a relatively long side, and that it is affine-regular if and only if all its sides are of equal relative lengths.Research supported in part by Komitet Bada Naukowych (Committee of Scientific Research), grant number 2 2005 92 03.     

On pairs of vectors achieving the maximal angle of a convex cone

In this paper we explore the concept of antipodality relative to a closed convex cone . The problem under consideration is that of finding a pair of unit vectors in K achieving the maximal angle of the cone. We mention also a few words on the attainability of critical angles. By way of application of the general theory, we briefly discuss the problem of estimating the radius of pointedness of a cone.     

Constructing a polytope to approximate a convex body

We develop an algorithm to construct a convex polytopeP withn vertices, contained in an arbitrary convex bodyK inR ^d , so that the ratio of the volumes |K/P|/|K| is dominated byc ·. d/n ^2/(d–1).Supported in part by the fund for the promotion of research in the Technion     

On neighborly families of convex bodies

A family of convex bodies in E^d is called neighborly if the intersection of every two of them is (d-1)-dimensional. In the present paper we prove that there is an infinite neighborly family of centrally symmetric convex bodies in E^d, d 3, such that every two of them are affinely equivalent (i.e., there is an affine transformation mapping one of them onto another), the bodies have large groups of affine automorphisms, and the volumes of the bodies are prescribed. We also prove that there is an infinite neighborly family of centrally symmetric convex bodies in E^d such that the bodies have large groups of symmetries. These two results are answers to a problem of B. Grünbaum (1963). We prove also that there exist arbitrarily large neighborly families of similar convex d-polytopes in E^d with prescribed diameters and with arbitrarily large groups of symmetries of the polytopes.     

On coverings of plane convex sets by translates of strips

In the euclidean planeE ² letS ₁,S ₂, ... be a sequence of strips of widthsw ₁,w ₂, .... It is shown thatE ² can be covered by translates of the stripsS _i if w ₁ ^3/2 = . Further results concern conditions in order that a compact convex domain inE ² can be covered by translates ofS ₁,S ₂, ....This research was supported by National Science Foundation Research Grant MCS 76-06111.     

Extremum problems for the cone volume functional of convex polytopes

Lutwak, Yang and Zhang defined the cone volume functional U over convex polytopes in Rn containing the origin in their interiors, and conjectured that the greatest lower bound on the ratio of this centro-affine invariant U to volume V is attained by parallelotopes. In this paper, we give affirmative answers to the conjecture in R² and R³. Some new sharp inequalities characterizing parallelotopes in Rn are established. Moreover, a simplified proof for the conjecture restricted to the class of origin-symmetric convex polytopes in Rn is provided.     

How to hold a convex body?

Convex bodies are often used for mathematical tests. They occasionally try to escape. Can the testing mathematician hold them still by using a circle? Rarely not.     

Immobilization of smooth convex figures

We establish a curvature criterion to decide whether three points immobilize a plane convex figure with smooth boundary. Then we use it to prove in the affirmative the convex case of Kuperberg's Conjecture. Namely, we prove that any convex figure with smooth boundary, different from a circular disk, can be immobilized with three points.     

Isoperimetric deficit and convex plane sets of maximum translative discrepancy

The paper deals with the following question: Among the convex plane sets of fixed isoperimetric deficit, which are the sets of maximum translative deviation from the circular shape? The answer is given for the cases in which the deviation is measured either by the translative Hausdorff metric or by the translative symmetric difference metric.