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FormalConjectures.ErdosProblems.«89»

Erdős Problem 89 #

Reference: erdosproblems.com/89

theorem Erdos89.erdos_89 :
(fun (n : ) => n / (Real.log n)) =O[Filter.atTop] fun (n : ) => (EuclideanGeometry.minimalDistinctDistances n)

Does every set of $n$ distinct points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ determine $\gg \frac{n}{\sqrt{\log n}}$ many distinct distances?

Guth and Katz [GuKa15] proved that there are always $\gg \frac{n}{\log n}$ many distinct distances.

[GuKa15] Guth, Larry and Katz, Nets Hawk, On the Erdős distinct distances problem in the plane. Ann. of Math. (2) (2015), 155-190.

This theorem provides a sanity check, showing that the main conjecture (erdos_89) is strictly stronger than the solved Guth and Katz result. It proves that, trivially, if the lower bound $\frac{n}{\sqrt{\log n}}$ holds, then the weaker lower bound $\frac{n}{\log n}$ must also hold.