Pyramidal Width Can Increase Under Vertex Insertion

The 2026 disproof of Erdős's unit-distance conjecture and Sawin's quantitative refinement show that the maximum number $u(n)$ of unit distances among $n$ planar points can exceed $n^{1+\varepsilon}$ for a fixed positive $\varepsilon$. Sawin's explicit bound gives more than $n^{1.014}$ unit distances for arbitrarily large $n$ and exposes integer parameters whose choice is not fully optimized. This report treats Sawin's parameter selection as a nonlinear integer optimization problem and develops an open-source Python optimization and verification pipeline for certificates involving prime sets $T$ and $S_Q$, integer multiplicities $k(p)$, and a rationally encoded real parameter $R$. After reproducing Sawin's certificate with $δ=0.014114\ldots$, the pipeline yields improved certificates with the same $T$. We develop a tailored integer evolution strategy achieving a certificate with $δ=0.015263\ldots$ and supporting the cautious statement $u(n)>n^{1.0152}$ for arbitrarily large $n$. For extended ramified prime ranges, the Emmerich--Cordella certificate obtained with the same framework reports $u(n)>n^{1.031}$ for $\#T=67$, illustrating the importance of enlarging $T$. Very recent MathOverflow discussions, brought to the author's attention as of version~4, report further improvements, including certificates above $δ>0.035$ and beyond $δ>0.036$. Some of these improvements may rely not only on larger prime ranges but also on modified constraint systems and additional degrees of freedom that deviate from Sawin's original formulation. Beyond this application, the work illustrates how randomized optimization heuristics can improve, verify, and refine explicit certificates for combinatorial geometry through nonlinear integer optimization.

For compact convex sets $L,K \subset \mathbb{R}^n$, denote by $λ_K(L)$ the smallest size of a homothet of $K$ that contains $L$. We define a measure of symmetry based on the $n$-simplex $Δ= Δ^n \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ as the ratio $$ρ_Δ(L):=\frac{λ_{-Δ}(L)}{λ_Δ(L)}.$$ We study this measure and deduce the following results: (1) The classical Minkowski measure of symmetry $m^*(L)$ can be defined as an affine-invariant version of $ρ_Δ(L)$. (2) We improve the stability analysis for the Minkowski measure of symmetry; if $m^*(L)\ge n-\varepsilon$ then $L$ is $\tfrac{1}{1-\varepsilon}$-close to $Δ$ in the Banach--Mazur distance. (3) We obtain a novel characterization of simplices as the only convex bodies $K$ for which the function $L \mapsto λ_K(L)$ is additive (a property we term ``outer additivity''). (4) Motivated by the expressivity of ReLU neural networks, we study the depth complexity of polytopes in $\mathbb{R}^n$ under the two operations: Minkowski sum and convex hull of a union. We prove the sharp bound $ρ_Δ(P) \leq 2^d -1$ for every polytope $P$ of depth complexity $d$. In other words, simplices cannot be approximated by low-depth polytopes.

We prove the positive-real $n=9$ case of the Vasc cyclic inequality. The proof was obtained with human-guided assistance from the AI agent MechMath Agent Team: the human-readable part reduces the rational inequality to a homogeneous polynomial inequality, fixes a cyclic maximum, and parametrizes each sorted fixed-maximum cone by cumulative gaps; the finite part is a certificate covering all $8!=40320$ sorted cones. MechMath Agent Team generated the certificate verification workflow through Python tool calls, including the case split, verification programs, and terminal classifications. The published certificate has $36815$ coefficient leaves, $2236$ ordinary Polya multiplier leaves, and $1269$ AM-GM midpoint overlay leaves. Human authors audited the mathematical reductions and verification logic, and a separate artifact contains the certificate, an independent verifier, and a from-source rebuild route.