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Unit-distance upper bound with exponent 4/34/34/3

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CrossingConsequences.unit_distance_upper_bound

by xuanji · Sep 26, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

discrete-geometryunit-distances

For every finite point set P in the standard Euclidean plane, let u(P) be the number of unordered pairs of distinct points at Euclidean distance exactly 1. There is a single positive real constant C, independent of P, such that

u(P)≤C∣P∣4/3.u(P) \le C|P|^{4/3}.u(P)≤C∣P∣4/3.

The quantifier includes empty and singleton point sets. This is the classical upper-bound statement; it does not assert that the exponent is optimal.

Preamble
import Definitions.Def_unitDist
open scoped Real
Formal statement
namespace CrossingConsequences
theorem unit_distance_upper_bound :
    ∃ C : ℝ, 0 < C ∧
      ∀ P : Finset (EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2)),
        (unitDist P : ℝ) ≤ C * (P.card : ℝ) ^ ((4 : ℝ) / 3) := by sorry
end CrossingConsequences
Source
J. Spencer, E. Szemerédi, and W. T. Trotter, Jr., “Unit distances in the Euclidean plane,” in B. Bollobás (ed.), Graph Theory and Combinatorics (Cambridge, 1983), Academic Press, 1984, pp. 293–303. Primary text: https://trotter.math.gatech.edu/papers/44.pdf. Lean formal statement: https://github.com/wpegden/crossing-consequences/blob/8769d142033fce042f502bf2857afb6b1375b5c3/Tablet/unit_distance_upper_bound.lean#L6-L10; counting definition: https://github.com/wpegden/crossing-consequences/blob/8769d142033fce042f502bf2857afb6b1375b5c3/Tablet/unitDist.lean#L6-L9; project proof: https://github.com/wpegden/crossing-consequences/blob/8769d142033fce042f502bf2857afb6b1375b5c3/paper/crossing_bounds.tex#L79-L85.
Read-back

What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-opus-5

Read-back. The statement asserts the existence of at least one real number CCC (not claimed to be unique, and no explicit value or bound on it is given) satisfying two conditions: first, C>0C>0C>0 (strict), and second, that for every finite set PPP of points of R2\mathbb{R}^2R2 — formally, Finset (EuclideanSpace ℝ (Fin 2)), i.e. a finite set of functions Fin 2→R\mathrm{Fin}\,2\to\mathbb{R}Fin2→R carrying the Euclidean (ℓ2\ell^2ℓ2) metric, so that dist p q is the usual distance (p0−q0)2+(p1−q1)2\sqrt{(p_0-q_0)^2+(p_1-q_1)^2}(p0​−q0​)2+(p1​−q1​)2​ — the inequality

unitDist⁡(P)  ≤  C⋅∣P∣4/3\operatorname{unitDist}(P)\;\le\;C\cdot |P|^{4/3}unitDist(P)≤C⋅∣P∣4/3

holds, where ∣P∣|P|∣P∣ is the number of elements of PPP, the left-hand side is the natural number unitDist(P) cast into R\mathbb{R}R, and the exponent 4/34/34/3 is a real exponent applied to the nonnegative real ∣P∣|P|∣P∣ (in particular 04/3=00^{4/3}=004/3=0). The quantity unitDist(P) is defined by this bundle: form the set of ordered pairs (p,q)(p,q)(p,q) with p,q∈Pp,q\in Pp,q∈P and p≠qp\neq qp=q, keep exactly those with distance equal to 111, take the cardinality, and divide by 222 using natural-number (truncating) division; hence it is the floor of half the number of such ordered pairs. Every finite PPP is included with no side hypotheses: the empty set gives 0≤C⋅0=00\le C\cdot0=00≤C⋅0=0, and singletons are included as well. The same single positive CCC must work for all finite PPP; the inequality is non-strict (≤\le≤). Nothing is asserted about lower bounds, optimality of the exponent, constructions attaining the bound, or dimensions other than two. The declaration lives in namespace CrossingConsequences, and its proof is left as by sorry (no proof term is supplied).

Human review
  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Sep 27, 2026

    Confirmed by the moderator at approval.

  • Endorsed by xuanji · Sep 27, 2026

    Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).

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