On the general position subset selection problem

Let $f(n,\ell)$ be the maximum integer such that every set of $n$ points in the plane with at most $\ell$ collinear contains a subset of $f(n,\ell)$ points with no three collinear. First we prove that if $\ell \leq O(\sqrt{n})$ then $f(n,\ell)\geq \Omega(\sqrt{\frac{n}{\ln \ell}})$. Second we prove that if $\ell \leq O(n^{(1-\epsilon)/2})$ then $f(n,\ell) \geq \Omega(\sqrt{n\log_\ell n})$, which implies all previously known lower bounds on $f(n,\ell)$ and improves them when $\ell$ is not fixed. A more general problem is to consider subsets with at most $k$ collinear points in a point set with at most $\ell$ collinear. We also prove analogous results in this setting

General Position Subsets and Independent Hyperplanes in d-Space

Erd\H{o}s asked what is the maximum number $\alpha(n)$ such that every set of $n$ points in the plane with no four on a line contains $\alpha(n)$ points in general position. We consider variants of this question for $d$-dimensional point sets and generalize previously known bounds. In particular, we prove the following two results for fixed $d$: - Every set $H$ of $n$ hyperplanes in $\mathbb{R}^d$ contains a subset $S\subseteq H$ of size at least $c \left(n \log n\right)^{1/d}$, for some constant $c=c(d)>0$, such that no cell of the arrangement of $H$ is bounded by hyperplanes of $S$ only. - Every set of $cq^d\log q$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, for some constant $c=c(d)>0$, contains a subset of $q$ cohyperplanar points or $q$ points in general position. Two-dimensional versions of the above results were respectively proved by Ackerman et al. [Electronic J. Combinatorics, 2014] and by Payne and Wood [SIAM J. Discrete Math., 2013].Comment: 8 page

Covering Partial Cubes with Zones

A partial cube is a graph having an isometric embedding in a hypercube. Partial cubes are characterized by a natural equivalence relation on the edges, whose classes are called zones. The number of zones determines the minimal dimension of a hypercube in which the graph can be embedded. We consider the problem of covering the vertices of a partial cube with the minimum number of zones. The problem admits several special cases, among which are the problem of covering the cells of a line arrangement with a minimum number of lines, and the problem of finding a minimum-size fibre in a bipartite poset. For several such special cases, we give upper and lower bounds on the minimum size of a covering by zones. We also consider the computational complexity of those problems, and establish some hardness results

On Higher Dimensional Point Sets in General Position

A finite point set in ?^d is in general position if no d + 1 points lie on a common hyperplane. Let ?_d(N) be the largest integer such that any set of N points in ?^d with no d + 2 members on a common hyperplane, contains a subset of size ?_d(N) in general position. Using the method of hypergraph containers, Balogh and Solymosi showed that ??(N) < N^{5/6 + o(1)}. In this paper, we also use the container method to obtain new upper bounds for ?_d(N) when d ? 3. More precisely, we show that if d is odd, then ?_d(N) < N^{1/2 + 1/(2d) + o(1)}, and if d is even, we have ?_d(N) < N^{1/2 + 1/(d-1) + o(1)}. We also study the classical problem of determining the maximum number a(d,k,n) of points selected from the grid [n]^d such that no k + 2 members lie on a k-flat. For fixed d and k, we show that a(d,k,n)? O(n^{d/{2?(k+2)/4?}(1- 1/{2?(k+2)/4?d+1})}), which improves the previously best known bound of O(n^{d/?(k + 2)/2?}) due to Lefmann when k+2 is congruent to 0 or 1 mod 4