Proper Coloring of Geometric Hypergraphs

We study whether for a given planar family F there is an m such that any finite set of points can be 3-colored so that anymember ofF that contains at leastm points contains two points with different colors. We conjecture that if F is a family of pseudo-disks, then such an m exists. We prove this in the special case when F is the family of all homothetic copies of a given convex polygon. We also study the problem in higher dimensions

On Polygons Excluding Point Sets

By a polygonization of a finite point set S in the plane we understand a simple polygon having S as the set of its vertices. Let B and R be sets of blue and red points, respectively, in the plane such that is in general position, and the convex hull of B contains k interior blue points and l interior red points. Hurtado et al. found sufficient conditions for the existence of a blue polygonization that encloses all red points. We consider the dual question of the existence of a blue polygonization that excludes all red points R. We show that there is a minimal number K = K(l), which is bounded from above by a polynomial in l, such that one can always find a blue polygonization excluding all red points, whenever k a parts per thousand yen K. Some other related problems are also considered

Drawing Planar Graphs Of Bounded Degree With Few Slopes

We settle a problem of Dujmovic, Eppstein, Suderman, and Wood by showing that there exists a function f with the property that every planar graph G with maximum degree d admits a drawing with noncrossing straight-line edges, using at most f(d) different slopes. If we allow the edges to be represented by polygonal paths with one bend, then 2d slopes suffice. Allowing two bends per edge, every planar graph with maximum degree d >= 3 can be drawn using segments of at most [d/2] different slopes. There is only one exception: the graph formed by the edges of an octahedron is 4-regular, yet it requires 3 slopes. Every other planar graph requires exactly [d/2] slopes