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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Claim. Section 5 of R. D. Mauldin, Some problems and ideas of Erdős in analysis and geometry, in Erdős Centennial, Bolyai Soc. Math. Stud. 25 (2013), 365–376, which the site credits to Freiling and Mauldin. Mauldin first restates Problem 352 in an equivalent form (Mauldin's Problem 5.2, obtained by standard approximations in measure theory that Mauldin does not spell out): is there a finite constant CC such that every set EE that is the union of the interiors of at most nn compact convex sets and has measure greater than CC contains the vertices of a triangle of area 11, and is the best constant c0=4π/(33)=4π/27c_0=4\pi/(3\sqrt3)=4\pi/\sqrt{27}? Mauldin then shows that c0c_0 is the best possible constant for n≤3n\le3: the cases n=1n=1 and n=2n=2 come from Mauldin's 2002 chapter (a convex body, or the convex hull of two such bodies, containing no triangle of area greater than 11 has area at most c0c_0), and for n=3n=3 the author writes out a redistribution-of-mass argument in which a small triple reduces to n=1n=1 through its convex hull, while for a large triple the region swept out between the two larger bodies has area at least that of the smallest, so the three bodies can be replaced by one. The general case Mauldin leaves open. The source card is Mauldin 2013.

Covers. The sets AA that are the union of the interiors of at most three compact convex sets, answered yes with any c>4π/27c>4\pi/\sqrt{27} in the form Mauldin's Problem 5.2 states, the open disk of area 4π/274\pi/\sqrt{27} showing that no smaller threshold works. The equivalence of Problem 5.2 with the question for all measurable sets needs every finite nn, so the general question is untouched.

Depends on. Freiling and Mauldin 2002 for the cases n=1n=1 and n=2n=2.

Dating. The page is dated by the volume's year; the chapter record gives no month, and the day in the page name is a placeholder.

Acceptance. None listed. The chapter appeared in a Bolyai Society volume, not a journal, and no evidence that the volume was refereed is recorded. The site's curator credits the result in the problem's commentary while labeling the problem OPEN, which is not acceptance of a claim.