Fitzpatrick's fractional general position conjecture for square grids

From papers

Let PnP_n be the path on nn vertices, let PnPnP_n\mathbin{\square}P_n be the n×nn\times n Cartesian grid, and let gpf\operatorname{gp}_f denote the fractional general position number. For even n3n\geq 3, define the lower bound from Theorem 2.1 by

n22t(t+1)nt12\frac{n^2-2t(t+1)}{n-t-\frac12}

for 0tn/20\leq t\leq n/2. For odd n3n\geq 3, use the two lower bounds from Theorem 2.2, namely

n2+18k2n2k\frac{n^2+1-8k^2}{n-2k}

and

n218(k2+k)n2k1\frac{n^2-1-8(k^2+k)}{n-2k-1}

with the parameter ranges specified there. Fitzpatrick's conjecture. The lower bound from Theorem 2.1 is optimal for even nn, and the bound from Theorem 2.2 is optimal for odd nn.

Exact values were known in the survey only for small orders, although the lower bound had been shown best possible through n=10n=10; the conjectured optimality for all even and odd orders remains open.

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Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Ullas Chandran S. V., Sandi Klavžar and James Tuite, “The General Position Problem: A Survey”, arXiv:2501.19385 (2026).

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