Intersections and Unions of Orthogonal Polygons Starshaped Via Staircase n-Paths

For n ≥ 1, define p (n) to be the smallest natural number r for which the following is true: For any finite family of simply connected orthogonal polygons in the plane and points x and y in , if every r (not necessarily distinct) members of contain a common staircase n-path from x to y, then contains such a path. We show that p(1) = 1 and p(n) = 2 (n − 1) for n ≥ 2. The numbers p(n) yield an improved Helly theorem for intersections of sets starshaped via staircase n-paths. Moreover, we establish the following dual result for unions of these sets: Let be any finite family of orthogonal polygons in the plane, with simply connected. If every three (not necessarily distinct) members of have a union which is starshaped via staircase n-paths, then T is starshaped via staircase (n + 1)-paths. The number n + 1 in the theorem is best for every n ≥ 2.