On regular 4-coverings and their application for lattice coverings in normed planes

It is well known that the famous covering problem of Hadwiger is completely solved only in the planar case, i.e.: any planar convex body can be covered by four smaller homothetical copies of itself. Lassak derived the smallest possible ratio of four such homothets (having equal size), using the notion of regular 4-covering. We will continue these investigations, mainly (but not only) referring to centrally symmetric convex plates. This allows to interpret and derive our results in terms of Minkowski geometry (i.e., the geometry of finite dimensional real Banach spaces). As a tool we also use the notion of quasi-perfect and perfect parallelograms of normed planes, which do not differ in the Euclidean plane. Further on, we will use Minkowskian bisectors, different orthogonality types, and further notions from the geometry of normed planes, and we will construct lattice coverings of such planes and study related Voronoi regions and gray areas. Discussing relations to the known bundle theorem, we also extend Miquel’s six-circles theorem from the Euclidean plane to all strictly convex normed planes.     

Minimal enclosing discs,circumcircles, and circumcenters in normed planes (Part II)

Until now there are almost no results on the precise geometric location of minimal enclosing balls of simplices in finite-dimensional real Banach spaces. We give a complete solution of the two-dimensional version of this problem, namely to locate minimal enclosing discs of triangles in arbitrary normed planes. It turns out that this solution is based on the classification of all possible shapes that the intersection of two norm circles can have, and on a new classification of triangles in normed planes via their angles. We also mention that our results are closely related to basic notions like coresets, Jung constants, the monotonicity lemma, and d-segments.     

On the Napoleon-Torricelli configuration in Affine Cayley-Klein planes

There are three affine Cayley-Klein planes (see [5]), namely, the Euclidean plane, the isotropic (Galilean) plane, and the pseudo-Euclidean (Minkow-skian or Lorentzian) plane. We extend the generalization of the well-known Napoleon theorem related to similar triangles erected on the sides of an arbitrary triangle in the Euclidean plane to all affine Cayley-Klein planes. Using the Ω_k-and anti-Ω_k-equilateral triangles introduced in [28], we construct the Napoleon and the Torricelli triangle of an arbitrary triangle in any affine Cayley-Klein plane. Some interesting geometric properties of these triangles are derived. The author is partially supported by grant VU-MI-204/2006.     

Constant Minkowskian width in terms of double normals

We extend the notion of a double normal of a convex body from smooth, strictly convex Minkowski planes to arbitrary two-dimensional real, normed, linear spaces in two different ways. Then, for both of these ways, we obtain the following characterization theorem: a convex body K in a Minkowski plane is of constant Minkowskian width iff every chord I of K splits K into two compact convex sets K₁ and K₂ such that I is a Minkowskian double normal of K₁ or K₂. Furthermore, the Euclidean version of this theorem yields a new characterization of d-dimensional Euclidean ball where d 3.     

A new type of orthogonality for normed planes

In this paper we introduce a new type of orthogonality for real normed planes which coincides with usual orthogonality in the Euclidean situation. With the help of this type of orthogonality we derive several characterizations of the Euclidean plane among all normed planes, all of them yielding also characteristic properties of inner product spaces among real normed linear spaces of dimensions d ⩾ 3.     

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.     

Weighted variational inequalities in normed spaces

In this article, we consider weighted variational inequalities over a product of sets and a system of weighted variational inequalities in normed spaces. We extend most results established in Ansari, Q.H., Khan, Z. and Siddiqi, A.H., (Weighted variational inequalities, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, 127(2005), pp. 263–283), from Euclidean spaces ordered by their respective non-negative orthants to normed spaces ordered by their respective non-trivial closed convex cones with non-empty interiors.     

On the circular hull property in normed planes

We extend the notion of circular hull to arbitrary normed planes and prove that a compact, convex set of constant Minkowskian width has the circular hull property in such a plane. Also we show how this property is related to the so called weak circular intersection property.     

Concurrency of the altitudes of a triangle

Of all the traditional (or Greek) centers of a triangle, the orthocenter (i.e., the point of concurrence of the altitudes) is probably the one that attracted the most of attention. This may be due to the fact that it is the only one that has no exact analogue for arbitrary higher dimensional simplices, for spherical and hyperbolic triangles, or for triangles in normed planes. But it possibly has to do also with the non-existence of any explicit treatment of this center in the Greek works that have come down to us. In this paper we present different proofs of the fact that the altitudes of a triangle are concurrent. These include the first extant proof, in the works of al-Kūhī, Newton’s proof, Gauss’s proof, and other interesting proofs.     

Cassini Curves in Normed Planes

We extend the concept of Cassini curves from the Euclidean plane to normed (or Minkowski) planes and show that geometric properties of (Minkowskian) Cassini curves are closely related to geometric properties of the unit disc determining the underlying normed plane.     

Zone diagrams in compact subsets of uniformly convex normed spaces

A zone diagram is a relatively new concept which has emerged in computational geometry and is related to Voronoi diagrams. Formally, it is a fixed point of a certain mapping, and neither its uniqueness nor its existence are obvious in advance. It has been studied by several authors, starting with T. Asano, J. Matoušek and T. Tokuyama, who considered the Euclidean plane with singleton sites, and proved the existence and uniqueness of zone diagrams there. In the present paper we prove the existence of zone diagrams with respect to finitely many pairwise disjoint compact sites contained in a compact and convex subset of a uniformly convex normed space, provided that either the sites or the convex subset satisfy a certain mild condition. The proof is based on the Schauder fixed point theorem, the Curtis-Schori theorem regarding the Hilbert cube, and on recent results concerning the characterization of Voronoi cells as a collection of line segments and their geometric stability with respect to small changes of the corresponding sites. Along the way we obtain the continuity of the Dom mapping as well as interesting and apparently new properties of Voronoi cells.     

Circle geometry in affine Cayley-Klein planes

Some theorems from inversive and Euclidean circle geometry are extended to all affine Cayley-Klein planes. In particular, we obtain an analogue to the first step of Clifford’s chain of theorems, a statement related to Napoleon’s theorem, extensions of Wood’s theorem on similar-perspective triangles and of the known fact that the three radical axes of three given circles are parallel or have a point in common. For proving these statements, we use generalized complex numbers. Supported by a grant D01-761/24.10.06 from the Ministry of Education and Sciences, and by a grant 108/2007 from Sofia University.     

The Funk and Hilbert geometries for spaces of constant curvature

The goal of this paper is to introduce and to study analogues of the Euclidean Funk and Hilbert metrics on open convex subsets of the hyperbolic space $\mathbb H ^n$ H n and of the sphere $S^n$ S n . We highlight some striking similarities among the three cases (Euclidean, spherical and hyperbolic) which hold at least at a formal level. The proofs of the basic properties of the classical Funk metric on subsets of $\mathbb R ^n$ R n use similarity properties of Euclidean triangles which of course do not hold in the non-Euclidean cases. Transforming the side lengths of triangles using hyperbolic and circular functions and using some non-Euclidean trigonometric formulae, the Euclidean similarity techniques are transported into the non-Euclidean worlds. We start by giving three representations of the Funk metric in each of the non-Euclidean cases, which parallel known representations for the Euclidean case. The non-Euclidean Funk metrics are shown to be Finslerian, and the associated Finsler norms are described. We then study their geodesics. The Hilbert geometry of convex sets in the non-Euclidean constant curvature spaces $S^n$ S n and $\mathbb H ^n$ H n is then developed by using the properties of the Funk metric and by introducing a non-Euclidean cross ratio. In the case of Euclidean (respectively spherical, hyperbolic) geometry, the Euclidean (respectively spherical, hyperbolic) geodesics are Funk and Hilbert geodesics. This leads to a formulation and a discussion of Hilbert’s Problem IV in the non-Euclidean settings. Projection maps between the spaces $\mathbb R ^n, \mathbb H ^n$ R n , H n and the upper hemisphere establish equivalences between the Hilbert geometries of convex sets in the three spaces of constant curvature, but such an equivalence does not hold for Funk geometries.     

On Napoleon's theorem in the isotropic plane]{On Napoleon's theorem in the isotropic plane

Summary Napoleon's original theorem refers to arbitrary triangles in the Euclidean plane. If equilateral triangles are externally erected on the sides of a given triangle, then their three corresponding circumcenters form an equilateral triangle. We present some analogous theorems and related statements for the isotropic (Galilean) plane.     

Geometric algebra of strictly convex Minkowski planes

Imposing geometric or group-theoretical conditions on left reflections or the group \({\mathfrak{G}}\) generated by them, we obtain many characterizations of the Euclidean plane and of Radon planes within the framework of strictly convex Minkowski planes. In particular, Bachmann’s view of geometry provides a rich source of pertinent conditions on \({\mathfrak{G}}\) . A special role in characterizing the Euclidean plane and Radon planes is played by the shape of the locus of images of a point x under the set of left reflections in lines having a point distinct from x in common.     

Scalarization of Henig Proper Efficient Points in a Normed Space

In a general normed space equipped with the order induced by a closed convex cone with a base, using a family of continuous monotone Minkowski functionals and a family of continuous norms, we obtain scalar characterizations of Henig proper efficient points of a general set and a bounded set, respectively. Moreover, we give a scalar characterization of a superefficient point of a set in a normed space equipped with the order induced by a closed convex cone with a bounded base.     

Quantified functional analysis: recapturing the dual unit ball

We introduce the weak approach structure for an arbitrary locally convex approach space and generalize the results from [1] about the weak approach structure of a normed space. Hereto we carefully develop the notion of a closed dual unit ball in an abstract setting (as a special kind of absolutely convex subset) because it is this kind of structure on the algebraic dual that induces, in a duality-compatible way, a locally convex approach structure on the original space.