Ilona Palásti (1924–1991) was a Hungarian mathematician who worked at the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics.
She is known for her research in discrete geometry, geometric probability, and the theory of random graphs.
[1] With Alfréd Rényi and others, she was considered to be one of the members of the Hungarian School of Probability.
[2] In connection to the Erdős distinct distances problem, Palásti studied the existence of point sets for which the
For instance, three points with this structure must form an isosceles triangle.
[3][4][E] Another of Palásti's results in discrete geometry concerns the number of triangular faces in an arrangement of lines.
When no three lines may cross at a single point, she and Zoltán Füredi found sets of
[3][D] In geometric probability, Palásti is known for her conjecture on random sequential adsorption, also known in the one-dimensional case as "the parking problem".
[5] Although her conjecture led to subsequent research in the same area, it has been shown to be inconsistent with the actual average packing density in dimensions two through four.