Enumerating Integral Points on Triangles in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$

Abstract

We present two ways of constructing Ehrhart polynomials corresponding to certain triangles in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$. One of our methods employs Popoviciu's Theorem, while the other method uses a version of Pick's Theorem adapted to rank-2 lattices in ${\mathbb{R}}^3$. We then apply our methods to linear Diophantine equations of the form $ax+by+cz=n$ and develop upper and lower bounds on the number of solutions in nonnegative integers $x$, $y$, and $z$. The bounds we develop are closed form quasi-polynomials, and the difference between them is bounded by a constant depending only on $a$ and $b$. As an application, we prove that the $k$th Frobenius number exists for any triple of positive integers and any $k$.

arXiv comment17 pages, comments welcome