Sets of Visible Points

Author: Rumsey, Howard Calvin

Year: 1961

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Apostol, Tom M.

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Mathematics

DOI: 10.7907/9Y69-0F82

Abstract

We say that two lattice points are visible from one another if there is no lattice point on the open line segment joining them. If Q is a subset of the n-dimensional integer lattice L^n, we write VQ for the set of points which can see every point of Q, and we call a set S a set of visible points if S = VQ for some set Q. In the first section we study the elementary properties of the operator V and of certain associated operators. A typical result is that Q is a set of visible points if and only if Q = V(VQ). In the second and third sections we study sets of visible points in greater detail. In particular we show that if Q is a finite subset of L^n, then VQ has a "density" which is given by the Euler product

^π_p (1 – r_p(Q)/p_n)

where the numbers r_p (Q) are certain integers determined by the set Q and the primes p. And if Q is an infinite subset of L^ n, we give necessary and sufficient conditions on the set Q such that VQ has a density which is given by this or other related products. In the final section we compute the average values of a certain class of functions defined on L^n, and we show that the resulting formula may be used to compute the density of a set of visible points VQ generated by a finite set Q.

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