The general $d$-position number ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ of a graph $G$ is the cardinality of a largest set $S$ for which no three distinct vertices from $S$ lie on a common geodesic of length at most $d$. This new graph parameter generalizes the well studied general position number. We first give some results concerning the monotonic behavior of ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ with respect to the suitable values of $d$. We show that the decision problem concerning finding ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ is NP-complete for any value of $d$. The value of ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ when $G$ is a path or a cycle is computed and a structural characterization of general $d$-position sets is shown. Moreover, we present some relationships with other topics including strong resolving graphs and dissociation sets. We finish our exposition by proving that ${\rm gp}_d(G)$ is infinite whenever $G$ is an infinite graph and $d$ is a finite integer.
A brief introduction to the theory of ordered sets and lattice theory is given. To illustrate proof techniques in the theory of ordered sets, a generalization of a conjecture of Daykin and Daykin, concerning the structure of posets that can be partitioned into chains in a ``strong'' way, is proved. The result is motivated by a conjecture of Graham's concerning probability correlation inequalities for linear extensions of finite posets.
Let $G$ be a simple graph with vertex set $V(G)$. A set $S\subseteq V(G)$ is independent if no two vertices from $S$ are adjacent. For $X\subseteq V(G)$, the difference of $X$ is $d(X) = |X|-|N(X)|$ and an independent set $A$ is critical if $d(A) = \max \{d(X): X\subseteq V(G) \text{ is an independent set}\}$ (possibly $A=\emptyset$). Let $\text{nucleus}(G)$ and $\text{diadem}(G)$ be the intersection and union, respectively, of all maximum size critical independent sets in $G$. In this paper, we will give two new characterizations of König-Egerváry graphs involving $\text{nucleus}(G)$ and $\te…
A point set $M$ in the Euclidean plane is called a planar integral point set if all the distances between the elements of $M$ are integers, and $M$ is not situated on a straight line. A planar integral point set is called to be in semi-general position, if it does not contain collinear triples. The existing lower bound for mininum diameter of planar integral point sets is linear. We prove a new lower bound for mininum diameter of planar integral point sets in semi-general position that is better than linear.
The general position number ${\rm gp}(G)$ of a connected graph $G$ is the cardinality of a largest set $S$ of vertices such that no three distinct vertices from $S$ lie on a common geodesic; such sets are refereed to as gp-sets of $G$. The general position number of cylinders $P_r\,\square\, C_s$ is deduced. It is proved that ${\rm gp}(C_r\,\square\, C_s)\in \{6,7\}$ whenever $r\ge s \ge 3$, $s\ne 4$, and $r\ge 6$. A probabilistic lower bound on the general position number of Cartesian graph powers is achieved. Along the way a formula for the number of gp-sets in $P_r\,\square\, P_s$, where $r…
Recently, Rattan and the first author (Ann. Comb. 25 (2021) 697-728) proved a conjectured inequality of Berkovich and Uncu (Ann. Comb. 23 (2019) 263-284) concerning partitions with an impermissible part. In this article, we generalize this inequality upon considering t impermissible parts. We compare these with partitions whose certain parts appear with a frequency which is a perfect t^{th} power. Our inequalities hold after a certain bound, which for given t is a polynomial in s, a major improvement over the previously known bound in the case t=1. To prove these inequalities, our methods invo…
Erdős asked the following question: given $n$ points in the plane in almost general position (no 4 collinear), how large a set can we guarantee to find that is in general position (no 3 collinear)? Füredi constructed a set of $n$ points in almost general position with no more than $o(n)$ points in general position. Cardinal, Tóth and Wood extended this result to $\mathbb{R}^3$, finding sets of $n$ points with no 5 on a plane whose subsets with no 4 points on a plane have size $o(n)$, and asked the question for higher dimensions: for given $n$, is it still true that the largest subset in genera…
We consider numbers and sizes of independent sets in graphs with minimum degree at least $d$, when the number $n$ of vertices is large. In particular we investigate which of these graphs yield the maximum numbers of independent sets of different sizes, and which yield the largest random independent sets. We establish a strengthened form of a conjecture of Galvin concerning the first of these topics.
A graph $G$ is a $D\!D_2$-graph if it has a pair $(D,D_2)$ of disjoint sets of vertices of $G$ such that $D$ is a dominating set and $D_2$ is a 2-dominating set of $G$. We provide several characterizations and hardness results concerning $D\!D_2$-graphs.
Let M,N be two matchings on [2n]={1, 2, ..., 2n} (possibly M=N) and for a nonnegative integer l let T(M,l) be the set of those matchings on [2n+2l] which can be obtained from M by successively adding l times in all ways the first edge, and similarly for T(N,l). Let s,t in {cr,ne} where cr is the statistic of the number of crossings (in a matching) and ne is the statistic of the number of nestings (possibly s=t). We prove that if the statistics s and t coincide on the sets of matchings T(M,l) and T(N,l) for l=0,1, they must coincide on these sets for every l >= 0; similar identities hold for th…
Given two non-negative integers $n$ and $s$, define $m(n,s)$ to be the maximal number such that in every hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ on $n$ vertices and with at most $ m(n,s)$ edges there is a vertex $x$ such that $|\mathcal{H}_x|\geq | E(\mathcal{H})| -s$, where $\mathcal{H}_x=\{H\setminus\{x\}:H\in E(\mathcal{H})\}$. This problem has been posed by Füredi and Pach and by Frankl and Tokushige. While the first results were only for specific small values of $s$, Frankl determined $m(n,2^{d-1}-1)$ for all $d\in\mathbb{N}$ with $d\mid n$. Subsequently, the goal became to determine $m(n,2^{d-1}-c)$ fo…
The general position problem in graph theory asks for the largest set $S$ of vertices of a graph $G$ such that no shortest path of $G$ contains more than two vertices of $S$. In this paper we consider a variant of the general position problem called the \emph{monophonic position problem}, obtained by replacing `shortest path' by `induced path'. We prove some basic properties and bounds for the monophonic position number of a graph and determine the monophonic position number of some graph families, including unicyclic graphs, complements of bipartite graphs and split graphs. We show that the m…
General position sets in strong products with paths and cycles
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor（马里博尔大学自然科学与数学学院）；Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, Ljubljana（卢布尔雅那数学、物理与力学研究所）
We consider some problems concerning the maximum number of (strong) dominating sets in a regular graph, and their weighted analogues. Our primary tool is Shearer's entropy lemma. These techniques extend to a reasonably broad class of graph parameters enumerating vertex colorings satisfying conditions on the multiset of colors appearing in (closed) neighborhoods. We also generalize further to enumeration problems for what we call existence homomorphisms. Here our results are substantially less complete, though we do solve some natural problems.
In a recent paper by Kitaev and Remmel, several formulas for the number of words of length n avoiding some generalized patterns were established. Each time the obtained function of n had been found in Sloane's Encyclopedia as the number of some other objects, but the bijections between the two sets did not follow from the proof. Kitaev and Remmel stated four open problems on finding respective bijections. Here we solve two of them, concerning sequences A007070 and A048739.
Given a set of $n$ points in $R^2$, the Szemerédi-Trotter theorem establishes that the number of lines which can be incident to at least $k > 1$ of these points is $O(n^2/k^3 + n/k)$. J.\ Solymosi conjectured that if one requires the points to be in a grid formation and the lines to be in general position---no two parallel, no three meeting at a point---then one can get a much tighter bound. We prove: for every $ε> 0$ there exists some $δ> 0$ such that for sufficiently large values of $n$, every set of lines in general position, each intersecting an $n \times n$ grid of points in at least $n^{…
We present some complexity results concerning the problems of covering a graph with $p$ convex sets and of partitioning a graph into $p$ convex sets. The following convexities are considered: digital convexity, monophonic convexity, $P_3$-convexity, and $P_3^*$-convexity.
A vertex subset $S$ of a graph $G$ is a general position set of $G$ if no vertex of $S$ lies on a geodesic between two other vertices of $S$. The cardinality of a largest general position set of $G$ is the general position number ${\rm gp}(G)$ of $G$. It is proved that $S\subseteq V(G)$ is in general position if and only if the components of $G[S]$ are complete subgraphs, the vertices of which form an in-transitive, distance-constant partition of $S$. If ${\rm diam}(G) = 2$, then ${\rm gp}(G)$ is the maximum of $ω(G)$ and the maximum order of an induced complete multipartite subgraph of the co…
For positive integers $s$ and $L \geq 3$, Berkovich and Uncu (Ann. Comb. $23$ ($2019$) $263$--$284$) conjectured an inequality between the sizes of two closely related sets of partitions whose parts lie in the interval $\{s, \ldots, L+s\}$. Further restrictions are placed on the sets by specifying impermissible parts as well as a minimum part. The authors proved their conjecture for the cases $s=1$ and $s=2$. In the present article, we prove the conjecture for general $s$ by proving a stronger theorem. We also prove other related conjectures found in the same paper.
The problem of determining the maximum number of edges in an $n$-vertex graph that does not contain a 4-cycle has a rich history in extremal graph theory. Using Sidon sets constructed by Bose and Chowla, for each odd prime power $q$ we construct a graph with $q^2 - q - 2$ vertices that does not contain a 4-cycle and has at least $\frac{1}{2}q^3 - q^2 - O(q^{3/4})$ edges. This disproves a conjecture of Abreu, Balbuena, and Labbate concerning the Turán number $\mathrm{ex}(q^2 - q - 2, C_4)$.
We prove that the clique number of the Paley graph is at most $\sqrt{p/2} + 1$, and that any supposed additive decompositions of the set of quadratic residues can only come from co-Sidon sets.
We connect two classical results in extremal graph theory concerning the number of maximal independent sets. The maximum number mis$(n)$ of maximal independent sets in an $n$-vertex graph was determined by Moon and Moser. The maximum number mis$_\bigtriangleup(n)$ of maximal independent sets in an $n$-vertex triangle-free graph was determined by Hujter and Tuza. We determine the maximum number mis$_t(n)$ of maximal independent sets in an $n$-vertex graph containing no induced triangle matching of size $t+1$. We also reprove a stability result of Kahn and Park on the maximum number mis$_{\bigtr…
For every pattern $P$, consisting of a finite set of points in the plane, $S_{P}(n,m)$ is defined as the largest number of similar copies of $P$ among sets of $n$ points in the plane without $m$ points on a line. A general construction, based on iterated Minkovski sums, is used to obtain new lower bounds for $S_{P}(n,m)$ when $P$ is an arbitrary pattern. Improved bounds are obtained when $P$ is a triangle or a regular polygon with few sides. It is also shown that $S_{P}(n,m)\geq n^{2-ε}$ whenever $m(n)\to \infty$ as $n \to\infty$. Finite sets with no collinear triples and not containing the 4 …
Let $P$ be a set of $n$ points in general position in the plane. Let $R$ be a set of $n$ points disjoint from $P$ such that for every $x,y \in P$ the line through $x$ and $y$ contains a point in $R$ outside of the segment delimited by $x$ and $y$. We show that $P \cup R$ must be contained in a cubic curve.
We construct sets $A, B$ in a vector space over $\mathbb{F}_2$ with the property that $A$ is "statistically" almost closed under addition by $B$ in the sense that $a + b$ almost always lies in $A$ when $a \in A, b \in B$, but which is extremely far from being "combinatorially" almost closed under addition by $B$: if $A' \subset A$, $B' \subset B$ and $A' + B'$ is comparable in size to $A'$ then $|B'| \lessapprox |B|^{1/2}$.
We consider a very simple dynamical system on weighted graphs which we call Iterative Graph Normalization (IGN) and a variant in which we apply a non-linear activation function to the weights after each normalization. We show that the indicator vectors of the Maximal Independent Sets of the graph are the only binary fixed points of IGN, that they are attractive under simple conditions on the activation function and we characterize their basins of attraction. We enumerate a number of other fixed points and we prove repulsivity for some classes. Based on extensive experiments and different theor…
We settle all problems posed by Scheepers, in his tribute paper to Gerlits, concerning the additivity of the Gerlits--Nagy property and related additivity numbers. We apply these results to compute the minimal number of concentrated sets of reals (in the sense of Besicovitch) whose union, when multiplied with a Gerlits--Nagy space, need not have Rothberger's property. We apply these methods to construct a large family of spaces, whose product with every Hurewicz space has Menger's property.
For a finite set $A\subset \mathbb{R}^d$, let $Δ(A)$ denote the spread of $A$, which is the ratio of the maximum pairwise distance to the minimum pairwise distance. For a positive integer $n$, let $γ_d(n)$ denote the largest integer such that any set $A$ of $n$ points in general position in $\mathbb{R}^d$, satisfying $Δ(A) \leq αn^{1/d}$ for a fixed $α>0$, contains at least $γ_d(n)$ points in convex position. About $30$ years ago, Valtr proved that $γ_2(n)=Θ(n^{1/3})$. Since then no further results have been obtained in higher dimensions. Here we continue this line of research in three dimensi…
In this paper we show that every sufficiently large family of convex bodies in the plane has a large subfamily in convex position provided that the number of common tangents of each pair of bodies is bounded and every subfamily of size five is in convex position. (If each pair of bodies have at most two common tangents it is enough to assume that every triple is in convex position, and likewise, if each pair of bodies have at most four common tangents it is enough to assume that every quadruple is in convex position.) This confirms a conjecture of Pach and Toth, and generalizes a theorem of Bi…
