Random points, convex bodies, lattices

Abstract

Assume $K$ is a convex body in $R^d$, and $X$ is a (large) finite subset of $K$. How many convex polytopes are there whose vertices come from $X$? What is the typical shape of such a polytope? How well the largest such polytope (which is actually $\conv X$) approximates $K$? We are interested in these questions mainly in two cases. The first is when $X$ is a random sample of $n$ uniform, independent points from $K$ and is motivated by Sylvester's four-point problem, and by the theory of random polytopes. The second case is when $X=K \cap Z^d$ where $Z^d$ is the lattice of integer points in $R^d$. Motivation comes from integer programming and geometry of numbers. The two cases behave quite similarly.