STOLEN NECKLACE

PROBLEM AND BORSUK-

ULAM THEOREM
PRESENTED BY

KIRAN SANAP
T.Y.B.SC
GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR
Flow of presentation
• The Stolen Necklace problem
• The Borsuk-Ulam Theorem
• The Continuous Necklace Problem
• The Connection
• Higher Dimension
STOLEN NECKLACE PROBLEM
• Name and solution : Noga Alon and Douglas B. West
FOR FAIR DIVISION OF NECKLACE
4 CUTS ARE REQUIRED FOR 4
TYPES OF BEADS
•

QUESTION : HOW MANY CUTS REQUIRED FOR 3 JEWEL TYPE AND 5 JEWEL TYPE ?
BORSUK-ULAM THEOREM
• Karol Borsuk (1933)
• We will always be able to find a pair of points that started off on exact opposite sides
of the sphere, which land on each other during the mapping.
• Points on the exact opposite side of the sphere are called “antipodal points”.
• Mapping a straight projection of every point directly onto the plane of the equator, north and south pole which
are antipodal, each land on the same point.

• If we tweaked this function a bit, maybe shearing it during the projection, the north and south pole may
no longer land on each other. Borsuk-Ulam theorem guarantees that no longer what, there must be some
other antipodal pair that now land on each other.
 CLASSIC EXAMPLE

• There must exists some pair of points on opposite

sides of the earth, where the temperature and the
pressures are both precisely the same.
• No matter what the weather patterns are on earth,
two antipodal points must land on top of each
other, which means they map to the same
(temperature, pressure).

Why this is true?

 BORSUK-ULAM THEOREM
• Continuous function f(p) on the sphere
• We find some point p
such that f(p) = f(-p) where –p is antipodal point of p on
the sphere

Consider a function g from sphere to plane such that

g(p) = f(p) –f(-p)
and
g(-p) = f(-p) – f(p)
g(-p) = -g(p)
• Clearly the image of red circle is a closed curve in plane
around the origin.
As we move red circle towards north pole then its curve is
shrinking at a one point.
As curve shrinking, it passes through origin.
So it gives guarantee that we get a point P on sphere such
That g(P)= (0,0)
i.e. f(p)=f(-p)
THEOREM OF METEOROLOGY
At any given moment in time, there exists a pair of antipodal points on the
surface of the earth at which both the temperature and the pressure are equal.

Figure: Since temperature and barometric pressure are continuous function

• What is a sphere?
• Sphere in 3D : () such that
• Geometric idea – algebraic idea of some
set of positive numbers that add to 1.
• The point on the opposite side of the sphere are
Same after flipping the sign of the each
coordinate
 NECKLACE PROBLEM

• Why unrelated? : SNP is discrete while BUT is continuous function.

• Translate SNP into a continuous function.
• Lets take 2 type of jewel:
• Goal : Cut necklace into 2 different spots and
Divvy up the 3 segments.
• Let necklace is line with length 1.
• Divide line into 18 evenly sized segments.
• Let us divide up the pieces so that each thief has an
Equal length of each color .
• Choose a, b, c so that a + b + c = 1 • Choose so that
• Make a binary choice for each
segment whether it goes to thief 1 • Choose 3 positive numbers that add to
or thief 2. 1.
• Binary choices:
y
z
• x positive – thief 1 otherwise thief 2
• y positive – thief 1 otherwise thief 2
• z positive – thief 1 otherwise thief 2
• Two points on sphere have same image under
continuous function
• Point on sphere divide [0,1] i.e., length of
necklace in three parts.
• Division of [0,1] gives equal distribution of
beads into thief.

So, the Borsuk-Ulam Theorem guarantees that

some antipodal pair of points on the sphere land
on each other in the plane, which means there
must be some necklace division using two cuts
that gives a fair division between thieves.
Thank You