Some Open Problems Regarding the Number of Lines and Slopes in Arrangements that Determine Shapes

TL;DR

This paper explores open problems in geometric arrangements of lines and points, focusing on the number of lines, slopes, and partitions determined by a given set of points, with empirical data and conjectures presented.

Contribution

It introduces open problems in line-point arrangements, provides empirical evidence for small cases, and proposes a conjecture based on incidence geometry.

Findings

Empirical data for small numbers of points

Partial answers to the open problems

A conjecture on the number of lines determined by points

Abstract

A set $L$ of straight lines and a set $P$ of points in the Euclidean plane define an arrangement $\mathcal{A}$ = ($L$, $P$) of construction lines and registration marks, if and only if: (1) any point in $P$ is a point of intersection of at least two lines in $L$, and (2) any two nonparallel lines in $L$ have a unique point of intersection in $P$. This expository article discusses the following open problems regarding such point-line arrangements. Suppose $k \geq 0$ number of points are given in the plane. How many construction lines $k$ points must determine? How many distinct slopes, or directions, are defined by construction lines that $k$ points determine? How many distinct sets of construction lines partition the plane, such that the lines meet at exactly $k$ points? Empirical evidence is reported for small numbers of $k$, offering partial answers to the three problems. A conjecture is also stated for the first problem, on the number of construction lines, after examining a related problem about finite linear spaces from incidence geometry. This paper contributes to the body of work related to the mathematics of shapes in the area of shape grammar theory.