Classical Topics in Discrete Geometry (eBook)

This multipurpose book can serve as a textbook for a semester long graduate level course giving a brief introduction to Discrete Geometry. It also can serve as a research monograph that leads the reader to the frontiers of the most recent research developments in the classical core part of discrete geometry. Finally, the forty-some selected research problems offer a great chance to use the book as a short problem book aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers.

The text is centered around four major and by now classical problems in discrete geometry. The first is the problem of densest sphere packings, which has more than 100 years of mathematically rich history. The second major problem is typically quoted under the approximately 50 years old illumination conjecture of V. Boltyanski and H. Hadwiger. The third topic is on covering by planks and cylinders with emphases on the affine invariant version of Tarski's plank problem, which was raised by T. Bang more than 50 years ago. The fourth topic is centered around the Kneser-Poulsen Conjecture, which also is approximately 50 years old. All four topics witnessed very recent breakthrough results, explaining their major role in this book.

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Geometry is a classical core part of mathematics which, with its birth, marked the beginning of the mathematical sciences. Thus, not surprisingly, geometry has played a key role in many important developments of mathematics in the past, as well as in present times. While focusing on modern mathematics, one has to emphasize the increasing role of discrete mathematics, or equivalently, the broad movement to establish discrete analogues of major components of mathematics. In this way, the works of a number of outstanding mathema- cians including H. S. M. Coxeter (Canada), C. A. Rogers (United Kingdom), and L. Fejes-T oth (Hungary) led to the new and fast developing eld called discrete geometry. One can brie y describe this branch of geometry as the study of discrete arrangements of geometric objects in Euclidean, as well as in non-Euclidean spaces. This, as a classical core part, also includes the theory of polytopes and tilings in addition to the theory of packing and covering. D- crete geometry is driven by problems often featuring a very clear visual and applied character. The solutions use a variety of methods of modern mat- matics, including convex and combinatorial geometry, coding theory, calculus of variations, di erential geometry, group theory, and topology, as well as geometric analysis and number theory.