On maximally inflected hyperbolic curves

Abstract

In this note we study the distribution of real inflection points among the ovals of a real non-singular hyperbolic curve of even degree. Using Hilbert's method we show that for any integers $d$ and $r$ such that $4\le r\le 2d^2-2d$, there is a non-singular hyperbolic curve of degree $2d$ in ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ with exactly $r$ line segments in the boundary of its convex hull. We also give a complete classification of possible distributions of inflection points among the ovals of a maximally inflected non-singular hyperbolic curve of degree $6$.

13 pages, 8 figures