Greedy posets for the bump-minimizing problem

A bump (x _i,x _i+1) occurs in a linear extension L={x ₁<...n} of a poset P, if x _ii+1 in P. L. is greedy if x _ij for every j>i, whenever (x _i x _i+1) in a bump in L. The purpose of this paper is to give a characterization of all greedy posets. These are the posets for which every greedy linear extension has a minimum number of bumps.This research (Math/1406/31) was supported by the Research Center, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.     

Minimizing bumps for posets of width two

Let L={x₁<…< x_n} be a linear extension of a finite partially ordered set P. A pair (x_i, x_i+1) forms a bump in L whenever x_i< x_i+1 in P. We give an effective solution for the problem of finding a linear extension with a minimum number of bumps when the width ofP is two.     

Computing the bump number with techniques from two-processor scheduling

Let (X, <) be a partially ordered set. A linear extension x ₁, x ₂, ... has a bump whenever x _i<x _i+1, and it has a jump whenever x _iand x _i+1are incomparable. The problem of finding a linear erxtension that minimizes the number of jumps has been studied extensively; Pulleyblank shows that it is NP-complete in the general case. Fishburn and Gehrlein raise the question of finding a linear extension that minimizes the number of bumps. We show that the bump number problem is closely related to the well-studied problem of scheduling unit-time tasks with a precedence partial order on two identical processors. We point out that a variant of Gabow's linear-time algorithm for the two-processor scheduling problem solves the bump number problem. Habib, Möhring, and Steiner have independently discovered a different polynomial-time algorithm to solve the bump number problem.Part of this work was done while the first author was a Research Student Associate at IBM Almaden Research Center. During the academic year his work is primarily supported by a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship and is supported in part by ONR contract N00014-85-C-0731.     

Minimizing bumps in linear extensions of ordered sets

A linear extension x ₁ x ₂ x ₃ ... of a partially ordered set (X, <) has a bump whenever x _i <x _i +1. We examine the problem of determining linear extensions with as few bumps as possible. Heuristic algorithms for approximate bump minimization are considered.     

Jump number problem: The role of matroids

Let L=x ₁ x ₂...x _n be a linear extension of a poset P. Each pair (x _i , x _i+1) such that x _i x _i+1in P is called a jump of L. It is well known that for N-free posets a natural greedy procedure constructing linear extensions yields a linear extension with a minimum number of jumps. We show that there is a matroid corresponding to any N-free poset and apply the Rado-Edmonds Theorem to obtain another proof of this result.     

A linear time algorithm to find the jump number of 2-dimensional bipartite partial orders

Let L=u ₁ , u ₂ , ..., u _k be a linear extension of a poset P. Each pair (u _i , u _i+1 ) of unrelated elements in P is called a jump of L. The jump number problem is to find L with the minimum number of jumps. The problem is known to be NP-hard even on bipartite posets. Here we present a linear time algorithm for it in 2-dimensional bipartite posets. We also discuss briefly some weighted cases.     

Representing an ordered set as the intersection of super greedy linear extensions

A linear extension [x ₁2<...t] of a finite ordered set P=(P, <) is super greedy if it can be obtained using the following procedure: Choose x ₁ to be a minimal element of P; suppose x ₁,...,x _i have been chosen; define p(x) to be the largest ji such that x _jj exists and 0 otherwise; choose x _i+1 to be a minimal element of P-{ x ₁,...,x _i} which maximizes p. Every finite ordered set P can be represented as the intersection of a family of super greedy linear extensions, called a super greedy realizer of P. The super greedy dimension of P is the minimum cardinality of a super greedy realizer of P. Best possible upper bounds for the super greedy dimension of P are derived in terms of |P-A| and width (P-A), where A is a maximal antichain.Research supported in part by NSF grant IPS-80110451.Research supported in part by ONR grant N00014-85K-0494 and NSERC grants 69-3378, 69-0259, and 69-1325.Research supported in part by NSF grant DMS-8401281.     

Inequalities for the greedy dimensions of ordered sets

Every linear extension L: [x ₁<x ₂<...<x _m ] of an ordered set P on m points arises from the simple algorithm: For each i with 0i<m, choose x _i+1 as a minimal element of P–{x _j :ji}. A linear extension is said to be greedy, if we also require that x _i+1 covers x _i in P whenever possible. The greedy dimension of an ordered set is defined as the minimum number of greedy linear extensions of P whose intersection is P. In this paper, we develop several inequalities bounding the greedy dimension of P as a function of other parameters of P. We show that the greedy dimension of P does not exceed the width of P. If A is an antichain in P and |P–A|2, we show that the greedy dimension of P does not exceed |P–A|. As a consequence, the greedy dimension of P does not exceed |P|/2 when |P|4. If the width of P–A is n and n2, we show that the greedy dimension of P does not exceed n ²+n. If A is the set of minimal elements of P, then this inequality can be strengthened to 2n–1. If A is the set of maximal elements, then the inequality can be further strengthened to n+1. Examples are presented to show that each of these inequalities is best possible.Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under ISP-80110451.Research supported in part by the National Science Foundation under ISP-80110451 and DMS-8401281.     

Irreducible Width 2 Posets of Linear Discrepancy 3

The linear discrepancy of a poset P is the least k such that there is a linear extension L of P such that if x and y are incomparable in P, then |h _L (x) − h _L (y)| ≤ k, where h _L (x) is the height of x in L. Tannenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn characterized the posets of linear discrepancy 1 as the semiorders of width 2 and posed the problem for characterizing the posets of linear discrepancy 2. Howard et al. (Order 24:139–153, 2007) showed that this problem is equivalent to finding all posets of linear discrepancy 3 such that the removal of any point reduces the linear discrepancy. In this paper we determine all of these minimal posets of linear discrepancy 3 that have width 2. We do so by showing that, when removing a specific maximal point in a minimal linear discrepancy 3 poset, there is a unique linear extension that witnesses linear discrepancy 2. The first author was supported during this research by National Science foundation VIGRE grant DMS-0135290.     

Minimizing the jump number for partially ordered sets: A graph-theoretic approach

The purpose of this paper is to present a graph-theoretic approach to the jump number problem for N-free posets which is based on the observation that the Hasse diagram of an N-free poset is a line digraph. Therefore, to every N-free poset P we can assign another digraph which is the root digraph of the Hasse diagram of P. Using this representation we show that the jump number of an N-free poset is equal to the cyclomatic number of its root digraph and can be found (without producing any linear extension) by an algorithm which tests if a given poset is N-free. Moreover, we demonstrate that there exists a correspondence between optimal linear extensions of an N-free poset and spanning branchings of its root digraph. We provide also another proof of the fact that optimal linear extensions of N-free posets are exactly greedy linear extensions. In conclusion, we discuss some possible generalizations of these results to arbitrary posets.     

Linear Equations for the Number of Intervals Which are Isomorphic with Boolean Lattices and the Dehn–Sommerville Equations

Let P be a finite poset. Let L: = J(P) denote the lattice of order ideals of P. Let b _i (L) denote the number of Boolean intervals of L of rank i.

We construct a simple graph G(P) from our poset P. Denote by f _i (P) the number of the cliques K _i+1, contained in the graph G(P).

Our main results are some linear equations connecting the numbers f _i (P) and b _i (L).

We reprove the Dehn–Sommerville equations for simplicial polytopes.

In our proof, we use free resolutions and the theory of Stanley–Reisner rings.     

The total linear discrepancy of an ordered set

In this paper we introduce the notion of the total linear discrepancy of a poset as a way of measuring the fairness of linear extensions. If L is a linear extension of a poset P, and x,y is an incomparable pair in P, the height difference between x and y in L is |L(x)−L(y)|. The total linear discrepancy of P in L is the sum over all incomparable pairs of these height differences. The total linear discrepancy of P is the minimum of this sum taken over all linear extensions L of P. While the problem of computing the (ordinary) linear discrepancy of a poset is NP-complete, the total linear discrepancy can be computed in polynomial time. Indeed, in this paper, we characterize those linear extensions that are optimal for total linear discrepancy. The characterization provides an easy way to count the number of optimal linear extensions.     

A Characterization of Partially Ordered Sets with Linear Discrepancy Equal to 2

The linear discrepancy of a poset P is the least k such that there is a linear extension L of P such that if x and y are incomparable in P, then |h _L (x)–h _L (y)|≤k, where h _L (x) is the height of x in L. Tanenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn characterized the posets of linear discrepancy 1 as the semiorders of width 2 and posed the problem of characterizing the posets of linear discrepancy 2. We show that this problem is equivalent to finding the posets with linear discrepancy equal to 3 having the property that the deletion of any point results in a reduction in the linear discrepancy. Howard determined that there are infinitely many such posets of width 2. We complete the forbidden subposet characterization of posets with linear discrepancy equal to 2 by finding the minimal posets of width 3 with linear discrepancy equal to 3. We do so by showing that, with a small number of exceptions, they can all be derived from the list for width 2 by the removal of specific comparisons. The first and second authors were supported during this research by National Science Foundation VIGRE grant DMS-0135290.     

Fractional dimension of partial orders

Given a partially ordered setP=(X, ), a collection of linear extensions {L ₁,L ₂,...,L _r } is arealizer if, for every incomparable pair of elementsx andy, we havex<y in someL _i (andy<x in someL _j ). For a positive integerk, we call a multiset {L ₁,L ₂,...,L _t } ak-fold realizer if for every incomparable pairx andy we havex<y in at leastk of theL _i 's. Lett(k) be the size of a smallestk-fold realizer ofP; we define thefractional dimension ofP, denoted fdim(P), to be the limit oft(k)/k ask. We prove various results about the fractional dimension of a poset.Research supported in part by the Office of Naval Research.     

An Asymptotic Property of Schachermayer's Space under Renorming

Let X be a Banach space with closed unit ball B. Given k , X is said to be k-β, respectively, (k + 1)-nearly uniformly convex ((k + 1)-NUC), if for every ε > 0 there exists δ, 0 < δ < 1, so that for every x B and every ε-separated sequence (x_n) B there are indices (n_i)^k_{i = 1}, respectively, (n_i)^{k + 1}_{i = 1}, such that (1/(k + 1))||x + ∑^k_{i = 1} x_ni|| ≤ 1 − δ, respectively, (1/(k + 1))||∑^{k + 1}_{i = 1} x_ni|| ≤ 1 − δ. It is shown that a Banach space constructed by Schachermayer is 2-β, but is not isomorphic to any 2-NUC Banach space. Modifying this example, we also show that there is a 2-NUC Banach space which cannot be equivalently renormed to be 1-β.     

When linear and weak discrepancy are equal

The linear discrepancy of a poset P is the least k such that there is a linear extension L of P such that if x and y are incomparable, then |h_L(x)−h_L(y)|≤k, whereas the weak discrepancy is the least k such that there is a weak extension W of P such that if x and y are incomparable, then |h_W(x)−h_W(y)|≤k. This paper resolves a question of Tanenbaum, Trenk, and Fishburn on characterizing when the weak and linear discrepancy of a poset are equal. Although it is shown that determining whether a poset has equal weak and linear discrepancy is -complete, this paper provides a complete characterization of the minimal posets with equal weak and linear discrepancy. Further, these minimal posets can be completely described as a family of interval orders.     

Computing the bump number is easy

The bump number b(P) of a partial order P is the minimum number of comparable adjacent pairs in some linear extension of P. It has an interesting application in the context of linear circuit layout problems. Its determination is equivalent to maximizing the number of jumps in some linear extension of P, for which the corresponding minimization problem (the jump number problem) is known to be NP-hard. We derive a polynomial algorithm for determining b(P). The proof of its correctness is based on a min-max theorem involving simple-structured series-parallel partial orders contained in P. This approach also leads to a characterization of all minimal partial orders (with respect to inclusion of the order relations) with fixed bump number.Supported by Sonderforschungsbereich 303 of the University of Bonn.Supported by DAAD and SSHRC, Grant No. 451861295.     

Substitution and atomic extension on greedy posets

In this paper, we study the operations of substitution and atomic extension on greedy posets. For the substitution operation, if P=(P ₁ , x, P ₂ )is a greedy poset, then P ₁ and P ₂ are greedy posets, the converse being false. However, for the atomic extension, P=P ₁ (x, P ₂ )is a greedy poset if and only if P ₁ and P ₂ are greedy posets. We prove also that the class of greedy semi-partitive lattices is the smallest one containing M _n (n2), B ₃ and closed by atomic extension. The class C _n of greedy posets with jump number n is infinite. However, we show that C _n can be obtained, in a very simple way, from a subclass D _n of finite cardinal ity. We construct D _n for n=1, 2.     

On some new types of greedy chains and greedy linear extensions of partially ordered sets

Two new types of greedy chains, strongly and semi-strongly greedy, in posets are defined and their role in solving the jump number problem is discussed in this paper. If a poset P contains a strongly greedy chain C then C may be taken as the first chain in an optimal linear extension of P. If a poset P has no strongly greedy chains then it contains an optimal linear extension which starts with a semi-strongly greedy chain. Hence, every poset has an optimal linear extension which consists of strongly and semi-strongly greedy chains. Algorithmic issues of finding such linear extensions are discussed elsewhere (Syslo, 1987, 1988), where we provide a very efficient method for solving the jump number problem which is polynomial in the class of posets whose arc representations contain a bounded number of dummy arcs. In another work, the author has recently demonstrated that this method restricted to interval orders gives rise to 3/2-approximation algorithm for such posets.     

Partitioning Posets

Given a poset P = (X, ≺ ), a partition X ₁, ..., X _k of X is called an ordered partition of P if, whenever x ∈ X _i and y ∈ X _j with x ≺ y, then i ≤ j. In this paper, we show that for every poset P = (X, ≺ ) and every integer k ≥ 2, there exists an ordered partition of P into k parts such that the total number of comparable pairs within the parts is at most (m − 1)/k, where m ≥ 1 is the total number of edges in the comparability graph of P. We show that this bound is best possible for k = 2, but we give an improved bound, , for k ≥ 3, where c(k) is a constant depending only on k. We also show that, given a poset P = (X, ≺ ) and an integer 2 ≤ k ≤ |X|, we can find an ordered partition of P into k parts that minimises the total number of comparable pairs within parts in time polynomial in the size of P. We prove more general, weighted versions of these results. Supported by an EPSRC doctoral training grant.