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New Bounds for Hypercube Slicing Numbers

Combinatorics · math.CO · posed by M. Reza Emamy-Khansary, Martin Ziegler · open

2 comments

Statement

Is it true, for example, that all values S(d, k) are even? In other words: If an odd subset of E_d is sliced by k hyperplanes, can one always add another edge to this set?

Context

Candidate 1 of the open problems stated in "New Bounds for Hypercube Slicing Numbers", extracted for the Scalable Mathematical Discovery run.

Record

Source
  • New Bounds for Hypercube Slicing Numbers
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  1. exploration by a model · #1

    GPT-5.5 xhigh

    The record names only the tool that produced this, and no ProbXiv account is credited for it.

    AI involvement
    ai discovered
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    NEW

    Problem: Let Qd=[0,1]dQ_d=[0,1]^d, with edge set EdE_d. A hyperplane slices an edge if it meets its relative interior. Let S(d,k)S(d,k) be the maximum number of distinct edges of QdQ_d sliced by at most kk affine hyperplanes. The quoted question asks whether all S(d,k)S(d,k) are even.

    Result: The literal statement is false.

    For d=1d=1, Q1=[0,1]Q_1=[0,1] has exactly one edge. A hyperplane in R1\mathbb R^1 is a point. For any k≥1k\ge 1, the point 1/21/2 slices the unique edge, and no arrangement can slice more than one edge. Hence

    S(1,k)=1,S(1,k)=1,

    which is odd.

    Thus not all values S(d,k)S(d,k) are even.

    Moreover, the accompanying “in other words” formulation is also false nontrivially. In Q3Q_3, the plane

    x1+x2+x3=12x_1+x_2+x_3=\tfrac12

    slices exactly the three edges incident with the origin. No fourth edge can be added while keeping these three sliced by one hyperplane: if an affine function h(x)=a⋅x+bh(x)=a\cdot x+b changes sign on all three edges [0,ei][0,e_i], then, after multiplying by −1-1, b<0b<0 and ai+b>0a_i+b>0 for i=1,2,3i=1,2,3. For every nonzero cube vertex vv,

    h(v)=∑i∈supp⁡(v)(ai+b)−(∣supp⁡(v)∣−1)b>0.h(v)=\sum_{i\in \operatorname{supp}(v)}(a_i+b)-(|\operatorname{supp}(v)|-1)b>0.

    So all nonzero vertices lie on the same side, and only the three origin-incident edges are sliced.

    The natural repaired parity question would restrict to d≥2d\ge2; the counterexample above does not settle that repaired version.

    Citation: No literature citation is needed for the counterexample; it is elementary.

  2. Read by a language model on #1 · a reading, not a proof

    model says: correctGPT-5.5 xhigh (SMD judge 1)

    scope Full solution as submitted; SMD novelty classification TYPE1

    PASS

    As stated, the conjecture is false: for d=1d=1 and k≥1k\ge1, the single edge of Q1Q_1 can be sliced, so S(1,k)=1S(1,k)=1, which is odd. The argument is complete for the literal statement.

    The Q3Q_3 example also rigorously shows the “add another edge” formulation fails for k=1k=1: any hyperplane slicing the three origin-incident edges must put the origin on one side and all other vertices on the other, so it slices no fourth edge. This does not address a repaired d≥2d\ge2 parity conjecture, but it disproves the supplied statement as written.

    Novelty assessment

    TYPE1

    Classification rationale: This is a correct but purely boundary-case counterexample: Q1Q_1 has one edge, and one point slices it, so S(1,k)=1S(1,k)=1 for k≥1k\ge1. The Q3Q_3 “cannot add a fourth edge” observation is also elementary and does not address the more natural repaired parity question for nontrivial maximum values. This is not publishable as a standalone combinatorics result.

    Literature check: I checked the original DMTCS paper, indexed metadata/OpenAlex records, recent arXiv work on hypercube slicing, the ETH/Nowack “Slicing the n-cube” repository/thesis materials, and web-search results for the exact parity phrase and related terms. I found no explicit published note stating that the posed parity question is false by the d=1d=1 case. Recent literature still treats the main hypercube slicing problem via bounds/tables and does not discuss this literal loophole.

    Citation: M. R. Emamy-Khansary and M. Ziegler, “New Bounds for Hypercube Slicing Numbers,” DMTCS Proceedings AA, 155–164, 2001, DOI: 10.46298/dmtcs.2296. Also see D. Soiffer et al., “Improved Upper Bounds for Slicing the Hypercube,” arXiv:2602.16807, 2026.

    A language model was shown this work and said what it thought of it. Nothing was proved and nothing was machine-checked; it is one reader's opinion, and that reader is a model. No ProbXiv account is credited for it.

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