Almost Empty Monochromatic Triangles in Planar Point Sets

For positive integers c, s ≥ 1, let M3 (c, s) be the least integer such that any set of at least M3 (c, s) points in the plane, no three on a line and colored with c colors, contains a monochromatic triangle with at most s interior points. The case s = 0 , which corresponds to empty monochromatic triangles, has been studied extensively over the last few years. In particular, it is known that M3 (1, 0) = 3, M3 (2, 0) = 9, and M3 (c, 0) = ∞, for c ≥ 3. In this paper we extend these results when c ≥ 2 and s ≥ 1. We prove that the least integer λ3 (c) such that M3 (c, λ3 (c)) < ∞ satisfies: ⌊(c-1)/2⌋ ≤ λ3 (c) ≤ c - 2, where c ≥ 2. Moreover, the exact values of M3 (c, s) are determined for small values of c and s. We also conjecture that λ3 (4) = 1, and verify it for sufficiently large Horton sets.