Orthocentric simplices and their centers

A simplex is said to be orthocentric if its altitudes intersect in a common point, called its orthocenter. In this paper it is proved that if any two of the traditional centers of an orthocentric simplex (in any dimension) coincide, then the simplex is regular. Along the way orthocentric simplices in which all facets have the same circumradius are characterized, and the possible barycentric coordinates of the orthocenter are described precisely. In particular these barycentric coordinates are used to parametrize the shapes of orthocentric simplices. The substantial, but widespread, literature on orthocentric simplices is briefly surveyed in order to place the new results in their proper context, and some of the previously known results are given with new proofs from the present perspective.     

A note on generalized pentagons

Thomassen introduced the notion of a generalized pentagon and proved that the chromatic number of a triangle-free graph with n vertices and minimum degree at least cn, , is at most 2(3c−1)^{−(4c−1)/(3c−1)}, the first bound independent of the order n. We present a short proof of the stronger upper bound (3c−1)⁻¹, again based on generalized pentagons.     

On mappings preserving pentagons

Summary We introduce a new characterization of linear isometries. More precisely, we prove that if a one-to-one mapping f:<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"'>ℝⁿ→ℝⁿ(2<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"'>≦n<<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"'>∞) maps every regular pentagon of side length a> 0 onto a pentagon with side length b> 0, then there exists a linear isometry I :<span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"'>ℝⁿ→ℝⁿup to translation such that f(x) = (b/a) I(x).     

Rigid pentagons in hypercubes

Two sets of vertices of a hypercubes in ⁿ and ^m are said to be equivalent if there exists a distance preserving linear transformation of one hypercube into the other taking one set to the other. A set of vertices of a hypercube is said to be weakly rigid if up to equivalence it is a unique realization of its distance pattern and it is called rigid if the same holds for any multiple of its distance pattern. A method of describing all rigid and weakly rigid sets of vertices of hypercube of a given size is developed. It is also shown that distance pattern of any rigid set is on the face of convex cone of all distance patterns of sets of vertices in hypercubes.Rigid pentagons (i.e. rigid sets of size 5 in hypercubes) are described. It is shown that there are exactly seven distinct types of rigid pentagons and one type of rigid quadrangle. It is also shown that there is a unique weakly rigid pentagon which is not rigid. An application to the study of all rigid pentagons and quadrangles inL ¹ having integral distance pattern is also given.This work was done during a visit of both the authors to Mehta Research Institute, Allahabad, India.     

Quadrilaterals and pentagons in arrangements of lines

Let p _k denote the number of k-sided faces in an arrangement of n5 lines in the real projective plane. B. Grünbaum has shown that p ₄1/2n(n–3) and has conjectured that equality can occur only for simple arrangements. We prove this conjecture here. We also show that 4p ₄+5p ₅3n holds for every simple arrangement of n4 lines. This latter result is a strengthening of a theorem of T. O. Strommer.     

On affine images of regular pentagons and pentagrams

In this paper we explore pentagons that are affine images of the regular pentagon and the regular pentagram. We obtain their characterizations in terms of two mild forms of regularity that deal with the notions of medians for a pentagon and the natural requirement that they are concurrent. Using these characterizations we show that there are various values involving the number 5 (thus related to the golden section) for which a careful selection of division points on appropriate segments determined by any pentagon will result in a pentagon that is the affine image of either a regular pentagon or a regular pentagram.     

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.     

Disjoint empty convex pentagons in planar point sets

In this paper we obtain the first non-trivial lower bound on the number of disjoint empty convex pentagons in planar points sets. We show that the number of disjoint empty convex pentagons in any set of n points in the plane, no three on a line, is at least $\left\lfloor {\tfrac{{5n}} {{47}}} \right\rfloor $ . This bound can be further improved to $\tfrac{{3n - 1}} {{28}} $ for infinitely many n.     

On closed-form integration of some Fuchsian differential equations related to a conformal mapping of circular pentagons with a cut

To solve the problem on a conformal mapping of some circular pentagons with a cut, we suggest to use special methods designed for a class of polygons in polar grids (i.e., bounded by arcs of concentric circles and segments of lines passing through the origin) and based on finding particular solutions of Fuchs type equations in the form of linear combinations of known particular solutions of some simpler equations with three singular points with indeterminate coefficients. The obtained results are first used to solve problems on a conformal mapping of circular quadrangles with a cut which belong to the class of polygons in polar grids, and then, with regard of found solutions, to pentagons of a more complicated structure, which are not polar. In all cases, we present the complete solution of the problem on parameters.     

Convex pentagons that admit <Emphasis Type="Italic">i</Emphasis>-block transitive tilings

The problem of classifying the convex pentagons that admit tilings of the plane is a long-standing unsolved problem. Previous to this article, there were 14 known distinct kinds of convex pentagons that admit tilings of the plane. Five of these types admit tile-transitive tilings (i.e. there is a single transitivity class with respect to the symmetry group of the tiling). The remaining 9 types do not admit tile-transitive tilings, but do admit either 2-block transitive tilings or 3-block transitive tilings; these are tilings comprised of clusters of 2 or 3 pentagons such that these clusters form tile-2-transitive or tile-3-transitive tilings. In this article, we present some combinatorial results concerning pentagons that admit i-block transitive tilings for \(i \in \mathbb {N}\). These results form the basis for an automated approach to finding all pentagons that admit i-block transitive tilings for each \(i \in \mathbb {N}\). We will present the methods of this algorithm and the results of the computer searches so far, which includes a complete classification of all pentagons admitting i-block transitive tilings for \(i \le 4\), among which is a new 15th type of convex pentagon that admits a tile-3-transitive tiling.     

Use of a computer to find the number of regular pentagons that can simultaneously touch a given one

Around an initial regular pentagon one describes a contour L on which one introduces a measure m. One investigates the difference S(M)=1/7m(L)?m(L∩M) where M is a pentagon touching the initial one and congruent to it. The geometric part of the investigation reduces the proof of the inequality S(M)<0 for all M to the proof of the negativity of two effectively computable functions F(u,v) and G(v) in the compact domain of the variation of the arguments. By the method of demonstrative computations, one calculates on a computer the values of these functions at the nodes of a rectangular net of the domain of the variation of the arguments by taking into account the monotonicity and one estimates the computational error. The results of the computation show that we have the inequality S(M)<0, from where it follows that the desired number is equal to six.     

Linear birth and death models and associated Laguerre and Meixner polynomials

We study birth and death processes with linear rates λ_n = n + α + c + 1, μ_{n + 1} = n + c, n 0 and μ₀ is either zero or c. The spectral measures of both processes are found using generating functions and the integral transforms of Laplace and Stieltjes. The corresponding orthogonal polynomials generalize Laguerre polynomials and the choice μ₀ = c generates the associated Laguerre polynomials of Askey and Wimp. We investigate the orthogonal polynomials in both cases and give alternate proofs of some of the results of Askey and Wimp on the associated Laguerre polynomials. We also identify the spectra of the associated Charlier and Meixner polynomials as zeros of certain transcendental equations.     

Distributive and Multiplication Modules and Rings

We study rings in which every ideal is a finitely generated multiplication right ideal.