The combinatorial Sylvester four-point conjecture

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Fix n≥4n\geq 4. Let w\mathsf{w} be a uniformly random reduced expression for the long word in SnS_n, and choose uniformly at random a 44-subset of {1,…,n}\{1,\ldots,n\}. The induced reduced expression v\mathsf{v} for the long word in S4S_4 is compared with

X={s1s2s3s2s1s2, s3s2s1s2s3s2, s2s1s2s3s2s1, s2s3s2s1s2s3}.X=\{s_1s_2s_3s_2s_1s_2,\ s_3s_2s_1s_2s_3s_2,\ s_2s_1s_2s_3s_2s_1,\ s_2s_3s_2s_1s_2s_3\}.

Combinatorial Sylvester four-point conjecture. For every n≥4n\geq 4, the probability that v∈X\mathsf{v}\in X is 1/41/4.

This is a combinatorial analogue of Sylvester's four-point problem, obtained from the Goodman–Pollack classification of point configurations. A more general result of O. Angel and A. E. Holroyd is stated to imply this conjecture.

References

Primary source

Gregory S. Warrington, “A combinatorial version of Sylvester's four-point problem”, arXiv:0910.5945 (2010).

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