Exact VC-Dimensions of Certain Geometric Set Systems

Abstract

The VC-dimension of a family of sets is a measure of its combinatorial complexity used in machine learning theory, computational geometry, and even model theory. Computing the VC-dimension of the $k$-fold union of geometric set systems has been an open and difficult combinatorial problem, dating back to Blumer, Ehrenfeucht, Haussler, and Warmuth in 1989, who ask about the VC-dimension of $k$-fold unions of half-spaces in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Let $\mathcal{F}_1$ denote the family of all lines in $\mathbb{R}^2$. It is well-known that $\mathsf{VC}\text{-}\mathsf{dim}(\mathcal{F}_1) = 2$. In this paper, we study the $2$-fold and $3$-fold unions of $\mathcal{F}_1$, denoted $\mathcal{F}_2$ and $\mathcal{F}_3$, respectively. We show that $\mathsf{VC}\text{-}\mathsf{dim}(\mathcal{F}_2) = 5$ and $\mathsf{VC}\text{-}\mathsf{dim}(\mathcal{F}_3) = 9$. Moreover, we give complete characterisations of the subsets of $\mathbb{R}^2$ of maximal size that can be shattered by $\mathcal{F}_2$ and $\mathcal{F}_3$, showing they are exactly two and five, respectively, up to isomorphism in the language of the point-line incidence relation.