Problem 92 — Visual explainer (undergrad) ========================================= Problem statement --------------- Let $f(n)$ be maximal such that there exists a set $A$ of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ in which every $x\in A$ has at least $f(n)$ points in $A$ equidistant from $x$. Is it true that $f(n)\leq n^{o(1)}$? Or even $f(n) < n^{O(1/\log\log n)}$? Picture ------- Plane picture: y ^ | o o | o | o +-----------------> x Question: what to look at ------------------------ - Restate the problem as: given the constraint, what asymptotic bound or structure must follow? - Use the comments as benchmarks (best known bounds / constructions). Context ------- Area hint: incidence geometry / combinatorial geometry. Notation (if it appears above) ----------------------------- - `o(g(n))` means "grows strictly smaller than g(n)" (ratio → 0 as nā†’āˆž). - `O(g(n))` means "at most a constant times g(n)" for large n. Benchmarks / known results (from comments) ---------------------------------------- - This is a stronger form of the unit distance conjecture (see [90]). - The set of lattice points imply $f(n) > n^{c/\log\log n}$ for some constant $c>0$. - Erd\H{o}s offered \$500 for a proof that $f(n) \leq n^{o(1)}$ but only \$100 for a counterexample. - This latter prize is downgraded to \$50 in.