Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.
Updated
Source: published paper, printed p. 219, the unnumbered unit-sphere observation.
Statement
If is any subset of a sphere of radius one in , then . The set need not be finite.
Full proof
Assume there is no red unit-distance pair. If there are no red points, the whole space is blue and contains . Otherwise choose a red point . Every point of the sphere of radius one about is blue. Translate the sphere containing to that sphere; the corresponding translate of is blue. This proves the assertion.
This observation explains why cardinality alone cannot upper-bound the size of every configuration forced against a red unit pair. The separation and diameter conditions in the main theorem have substantive roles.
Related proof pages. theorem 1 2.
Bears on. Problem 188, Problem 214.