North-East Lattice Paths with Few Collinear Vertices

Abstract

Let $A(k)$ be the largest possible number of moves in a north-east lattice path whose visited vertices contain no $k$ collinear points. Gerver (1979) and Gerver and Ramsey (1979) gave lower and upper bounds on $A(k)$ of the form \[ \exp\left(Ω(\log(k)^2)\right)\le A(k)\le \exp\left(O(k^4)\right). \] Improving upon these results, we show that \[ \exp\left(Ω(k^{1/3})\right)\le A(k)\le \exp\left(\left(\frac{2}{e}+o(1)\right)(k-1)^2\right). \]