Friday, February 25, 2011

Article: Mathematician credited with solving one of combinatorial geometry's most challenging problems


Mathematician credited with solving one of combinatorial geometry's most challenging problems
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-mathematician-credited-combinatorial-geometry-problems.html

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The work by IU Department of Mathematics Professor Nets Hawk Katz, with Larry Guth of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., achieved what many thought was unachievable: Solving Paul Erd?s' 1946 Distinct Distances Problem.

"If someone hands you some distinct set of points, you can figure out what is the set of differences. The problem is to determine what the minimum possible set of distances is," Katz said. "What we did is to show that no matter how you place the N points, the number of distances is at least a constant times N/log N."



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