Radon's Theorem - Proof and Construction

Proof and Construction

Consider any set of d + 2 points in d-dimensional space. Then there exists a set of multipliers a1, ..., ad + 2, not all of which are zero, solving the system of linear equations

because there are d + 2 unknowns (the multipliers) but only d + 1 equations that they must satisfy (one for each coordinate of the points, together with a final equation requiring the sum of the multipliers to be zero). Fix some particular nonzero solution a1, ..., ad + 2. Let I be the set of points with positive multipliers, and let J be the set of points with multipliers that are negative or zero. Then I and J form the required partition of the points into two subsets with intersecting convex hulls.

The convex hulls of I and J must intersect, because they both contain the point

where

The left hand side of the formula for p expresses this point as a convex combination of the points in I, and the right hand side expresses it as a convex combination of the points in J. Therefore, p belongs to both convex hulls, completing the proof.

This proof method allows for the efficient construction of a Radon point, in an amount of time that is polynomial in the dimension, by using Gaussian elimination or other efficient algorithms to solve the system of equations for the multipliers.

Read more about this topic:  Radon's Theorem

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