Optimal stretching for lattice points under convex curves

  • Sinan Ariturk

    Pontfícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Richard S. Laugesen

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Abstract

Suppose we count the positive integer lattice points beneath a convex decreasing curve in the first quadrant having equal intercepts. Then stretch in the coordinate directions so as to preserve the area under the curve, and again count lattice points. Which choice of stretch factor will maximize the lattice point count? We show the optimal stretch factor approaches as the area approaches infinity. In particular, when , among -ellipses with , the one enclosing the most first-quadrant lattice points approaches a -circle () as .

The case was established by Antunes and Freitas, with generalization to by Laugesen and Liu. The case remains open, where the question is: which right triangles in the first quadrant with two sides along the axes will enclose the most lattice points, as the area tends to infinity?

Cite this article

Sinan Ariturk, Richard S. Laugesen, Optimal stretching for lattice points under convex curves. Port. Math. 74 (2017), no. 2, pp. 91–114

DOI 10.4171/PM/1994