On the number of views of polyhedral terrains

We show that the number of topologically different orthographic views of a polyhedral terrain withn edges isO(n ^5+ɛ ), and that the number of topologically different perspective views of such a terrain isO(n ^8+ɛ ), for any ɛ>0. Both bounds are almost tight in the worst case. The proofs are simple consequences of the recent almost-tight bounds of [11] on the complexity of lower envelopes in higher dimensions. Pankaj Agarwal has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant CCR-91-06514. Micha Sharir has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant CCR-91-22103, and by grants from the U.S.—Israeli Binational Science Foundation, the G.I.F.—the German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development- and the Fund for Basic Research administered by the Israeli Academy of Sciences.     

Approximate Shortest Paths and Geodesic Diameter on a Convex Polytope in Three Dimensions

Given a convex polytope P with n edges in ³ , we present a relatively simple algorithm that preprocesses P in O(n) time, such that, given any two points , and a parameter 0 < 1, it computes, in O(log n) /ɛ ^1.5 + 1/ ɛ ³ ) time, a distance Δ _P (s,t) , such that d _P (s,t) Δ _P (s,t) (1+ɛ )d _P (s,t) , where d _P (s,t) is the length of the shortest path between s and t on . The algorithm also produces a polygonal path with O (1/ɛ ^1.5 ) segments that avoids the interior of P and has length Δ _P (s,t) . Our second related result is: Given a convex polytope P with n edges in ³ , and a parameter 0 < 1, we present an O (n + 1/ ɛ ⁵ )-time algorithm that computes two points such that , where is the geodesic diameter of P . Received April 8, 1997, and in revised form August 3, 1997.     

Sur les fonctions entièresq-arithmétiques

Letq ɛ Z, |q|>1. In this paper, we study entire functions of a complex variable such thatf(q ^n+m)≡f(qⁿ) (modq ^m-1), ∀n ɛ N andm>0. We prove that iff is of sufficiently small growth, then it is a polynomial.      

On the bestL 1-approximations of functional classes by splines under restrictions imposed on their derivatives

We find the exact asymptotics (asn→∞) of the bestL ₁-approximations of classesW ₁ ^r of periodic functions by spliness∈S _{2n, r∼-1} (S _{2n, r∼-1} is a set of 2π-periodic polynomial splines of orderr−1, defect one, and with nodes at the pointskπ/n,k∈ℤ) such that V ₀ ^2π s( ^r-1)≤1+ɛ _n , where {ɛ _n } _n=1 ^∞ is a decreasing sequence of positive numbers such that ɛ _n n ²→∞ and ɛ _n →0 asn→∞. Dnepropetrovsk University, Dnepropetrovsk. Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 435–444, April, 1999.     

Anti‐magic graphs via the Combinatorial NullStellenSatz

An antimagic labeling of a graph with m edges and n vertices is a bijection from the set of edges to the integers 1,…,m such that all n vertex sums are pairwise distinct, where a vertex sum is the sum of labels of all edges incident with that vertex. A graph is called antimagic if it has an antimagic labeling. In [ 10 ], Ringel conjectured that every simple connected graph, other than K₂, is antimagic. We prove several special cases and variants of this conjecture. Our main tool is the Combinatorial NullStellenSatz (cf. [ 1 ]). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory     

Distribution of harmonic sums and Bernoulli polynomials modulo a prime

For a fixed integer s≥1, we estimate exponential sums with harmonic sums individually and on average, where H_s(n) is computed modulo a prime p. These bounds are used to derive new results about various congruences modulo p involving H_s(n). For example, our estimates imply that for any ɛ>0, the set {H_s(n):n<p^1/2+ɛ} is uniformly distributed modulo a sufficiently large p. We also show that every residue class λ can be represented as with max{n_ν|ν=1,. . . , 7}≤p^11/12+ɛ, and we obtain an asymptotic formula for the number of such representations. The same results hold also for the values B_p−r(n) of Bernoulli polynomials where r is fixed, complementing some results of W. L. Fouche. During the preparation of this paper, F. L. was supported in part by grants SEP-CONACYT 37259-E and 37260-E, and I. S. was supported in part by ARC grant DP0211459.     

On the Greatest Common Di visor of u − 1 and v − 1 with u and v Near ${\cal S}$- units

In [2], it was shown that if a and b are multiplicatively independent integers and ɛ > 0, then the inequality gcd (aⁿ − 1,bⁿ − 1) < exp(ɛn) holds for all but finitely many positive integers n. Here, we generalize the above result. In particular, we show that if f(x),f₁(x),g(x),g₁(x) are non-zero polynomials with integer coefficients, then for every ɛ > 0, the inequality holds for all but finitely many positive integers n.     

On the Greatest Common Divisor of u ? 1 and v ? 1 with u and v Near S{\cal S}-units

In [2], it was shown that if a and b are multiplicatively independent integers and ɛ > 0, then the inequality gcd (aⁿ − 1,bⁿ − 1) < exp(ɛn) holds for all but finitely many positive integers n. Here, we generalize the above result. In particular, we show that if f(x),f₁(x),g(x),g₁(x) are non-zero polynomials with integer coefficients, then for every ɛ > 0, the inequality gcd (f(n)aⁿ+g(n), f₁(n)bⁿ+g₁(n)) < exp(ne){\rm gcd}\, (f(n)a^n+g(n), f_1(n)b^n+g_1(n)) < \exp(n\varepsilon) holds for all but finitely many positive integers n.     

Moment convergence rates in the law of the logarithm for dependent sequences

Let {X _n ; n ≥ 1} be a strictly stationary sequence of negatively associated random variables with mean zero and finite variance. Set S _n = Σ _k=1 ⁿ X _k , M _n = max _k≤n |S _k |, n ≥ 1. Suppose σ ² = EX ₁² + 2Σ _k=2^∞ EX ₁ X _k (0 < σ < ∞). In this paper, the exact convergence rates of a kind of weighted infinite series of E{M _n −σɛ√n log n}₊ and E{|S _n | − σɛ√n log n}₊ as ɛ ↘ 0 and E{σɛ√π ² π/8logn − M _n }₊ as ɛ ↗ ∞ are obtained.     

On K s -free subgraphs in K s+k -free graphs and vertex Folkman numbers

Extending the problem of determining Ramsey numbers Erdős and Rogers introduced the following function. For given integers 2 ≤ s < t let f _s,t (n) = min{max{|S|: S ⊆ V (H) and H[S] contains no K _s }}, where the minimum is taken over all K _t -free graphs H of order n. This function attracted a considerable amount of attention but despite that, the gap between the lower and upper bounds is still fairly wide. For example, when t=s+1, the best bounds have been of the form Ω(n ^1/2+o(1)) ≤ f _s,s+1(n) ≤ O(n ^1−ɛ(s)), where ɛ(s) tends to zero as s tends to infinity. In this paper we improve the upper bound by showing that f _s,s+1(n) ≤ O(n ^2/3). Moreover, we show that for every ɛ > 0 and sufficiently large integers 1 ≪ k ≪ s, Ω(n ^1/2−ɛ ) ≤ f _s,s+k (n) ≤ O(n ^1/2+ɛ . In addition, we also discuss some connections between the function f _s,t and vertex Folkman numbers.     

l p n Superspaces of spans of independent random variables

We show that for 1 ≦p < ∞,p ≠ 2, ifɛ > 0 is small enough andX ≦L _p is the span ofn independent Rademacher functions orn independent Gaussian random variables, then any superspaceY ofX satisfyingd(Y,L _p ^m ) ≦ 1 +ɛ has dimension larger thanr ⁿ, wherer =r(ɛ, p) > 1. This forms part of the author’s doctoral dissertation prepared at Texas A&M University under the direction of Professor W. B. Johnson. Supported in part by NSF DMS-85 00764.     

The density of rational points on non-singular hypersurfaces

LetF(x) =F[x₁,…,x_n]∈ℤ[x₁,…,x_n] be a non-singular form of degree d≥2, and letN(F, X)=#{xεℤ ⁿ ;F(x)=0, |x|⩽X}, where . It was shown by Fujiwara [4] [Upper bounds for the number of lattice points on hypersurfaces,Number theory and combinatorics, Japan, 1984, (World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1985)] thatN(F, X)≪X ^n−2+2/n for any fixed formF. It is shown here that the exponent may be reduced ton - 2 + 2/(n + 1), forn ≥ 4, and ton - 3 + 15/(n + 5) forn ≥ 8 andd ≥ 3. It is conjectured that the exponentn - 2 + ε is admissable as soon asn ≥ 3. Thus the conjecture is established forn ≥ 10. The proof uses Deligne’s bounds for exponential sums and for the number of points on hypersurfaces over finite fields. However a composite modulus is used so that one can apply the ‘q-analogue’ of van der Corput’s AB process. Dedicated to the memory of Professor K G Ramanathan     

An analysis of a Monte Carlo algorithm for estimating the permanent

Karmarkar, Karp, Lipton, Lovász, and Luby proposed a Monte Carlo algorithm for approximating the permanent of a non-negativen×n matrix, which is based on an easily computed, unbiased estimator. It is not difficult to construct 0,1-matrices for which the variance of this estimator is very large, so that an exponential number of trials is necessary to obtain a reliable approximation that is within a constant factor of the correct value. Nevertheless, the same authors conjectured that for a random 0,1-matrix the variance of the estimator is typically small. The conjecture is shown to be true; indeed, for almost every 0,1-matrixA, just O(nw(n)e ^-2) trials suffice to obtain a reliable approximation to the permanent ofA within a factor 1±ɛ of the correct value. Here ω(n) is any function tending to infinity asn→∞. This result extends to random 0,1-matrices with density at leastn ^−1/2ω(n). It is also shown that polynomially many trials suffice to approximate the permanent of any dense 0,1-matrix, i.e., one in which every row- and column-sum is at least (1/2+α)n, for some constant α>0. The degree of the polynomial bounding the number of trials is a function of α, and increases as α→0. Supported by NSF grant CCR-9225008. The work described here was partly carried out while the author was visiting Princeton University as a guest of DIMACS (Center for Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science).     

Conditional ɛ-uniform convergence of adaptive algorithms in the finite element method as applied to singularly perturbed problems

The boundary value problem for the ordinary differential equation of reaction-diffusion on the interval [−1, 1] is examined. The highest derivative in this equation appears with a small parameter ɛ² (ɛ ∈ (0, 1]). As the small parameter approaches zero, boundary layers arise in the neighborhood of the interval endpoints. An algorithm for the construction of a posteriori adaptive piecewise uniform grids is proposed. In the adaptation process, the edges of the boundary layers are located more accurately and the grid on the boundary layers is repeatedly refined. To find an approximate solution, the finite element method is used. The sequence of grids constructed by the algorithm is shown to converge “conditionally ɛ-uniformly” to some limit partition for which the error estimate O(N ⁻²ln³ N) is proved. The main results are obtained under the assumption that ɛ ≪ N ⁻¹, where N is number of grid nodes; thus, conditional ɛ-uniform convergence is dealt with. The proofs use the Galerkin projector and its property to be quasi-optimal.     

A class of constructions for turán’s (3, 4)-problem

Letf(n) denote the minimal number of edges of a 3-uniform hypergraphG=(V, E) onn vertices such that for every quadrupleY ⊂V there existsY ⊃e ∈E. Turán conjectured thatf(3k)=k(k−1)(2k−1). We prove that if Turán’s conjecture is correct then there exist at least 2 ^k−2 non-isomorphic extremal hypergraphs on 3k vertices.     

Bernoulli convolutions and an intermediate value theorem for entropies of<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-partitions

We establish a strong regularity property for the distributions of the random sums Σ±λ ⁿ , known as “infinite Bernoulli convolutions”: For a.e. λ ∃ (1/2, 1) and any fixed ℓ, the conditional distribution of (w _n+1...,w _n+ℓ) given the sum Σ _n=0 ^∞ w _n λ ⁿ , tends to the uniform distribution on {±1}^ℓ asn → ∞. More precise results, where ℓ grows linearly inn, and extensions to other random sums are also obtained. As a corollary, we show that a Bernoulli measure-preserving system of entropyh hasK-partitions of any prescribed conditional entropy in [0,h]. This answers a question of Rokhlin and Sinai from the 1960’s, for the case of Bernoulli systems. The authors were partially supported by NSF grants DMS-9729992 (E. L.), DMS-9803597 (Y. P.) and DMS-0070538 (W. S.).     

Noise sensitivity of Boolean functions and applications to percolation

It is shown that a large class of events in a product probability space are highly sensitive to noise, in the sense that with high probability, the configuration with an arbitrary small percent of random errors gives almost no prediction whether the event occurs. On the other hand, weighted majority functions are shown to be noise-stable. Several necessary and sufficient conditions for noise sensitivity and stability are given. Consider, for example, bond percolation on ann+1 byn grid. A configuration is a function that assigns to every edge the value 0 or 1. Let ω be a random configuration, selected according to the uniform measure. A crossing is a path that joins the left and right sides of the rectangle, and consists entirely of edges ℓ with ω(ℓ)=1. By duality, the probability for having a crossing is 1/2. Fix an ɛ ∈ (0, 1). For each edge ℓ, let ω′(ℓ)=ω(ℓ) with probability 1 − ɛ, and ω′(ℓ)=1 − ω(ℓ) with probability ɛ, independently of the other edges. Letp(τ) be the probability for having a crossing in ω, conditioned on ω′ = τ. Then for alln sufficiently large,P{τ : |p(τ) − 1/2| > ɛ}<ɛ.     

Global existence and time decay of small solutions to the landau-ginzburg type equations

We study the Cauchy problem for the nonlinear dissipative equations (0.1) uo∂u-αδu + Β|u|^2/n u = 0,x ∃ Rⁿ,t } 0,u(0,x) = u0(x),x ∃ Rⁿ, where α,Β ∃ C, ℜα 0. We are interested in the dissipative case ℜα 0, and ℜδ(α,Β)≥ 0, θ = |∫ u0(x)dx| ⊋ 0, where δ(α, Β) = ##|α|^n-1n^n/2 / ((n + 1)|α|² + α^{2 n/2}. Furthermore, we assume that the initial data u₀ ∃ L^p are such that (1 + |x|)^αu0 ∃ L¹, with sufficiently small norm ∃ = (1 + |x|)^α u₀ 1 + u₀ p, wherep 1, α ∃ (0,1). Then there exists a unique solution of the Cauchy problem (0.1)u(t, x) ∃ C ((0, ∞); L^∞) ∩ C ([0, ∞); L¹ ∩ L^p) satisfying the time decay estimates for allt0 u(t)||_∞ Cɛt^-n/2(1 + η log 〈t〉)^-n/2, if hg = θ^2/n 2_π ℜδ(α, Β) 0; u(t)||_∞ Cɛt^-n/2(1 + Μ log 〈t〉)^-n/4, if η = 0 and Μ = θ^4/n 4π)² (ℑδ(α, Β))² ℜ((1 + 1/n) υ1-1 υ2) 0; and u(t)||_∞ Cɛt^-n/2(1 + κ log 〈t〉)^-n/6, if η = 0, Μ = 0, κ 0, where υl,l = 1,2 are defined in (1.2), κ is a positive constant defined in (2.31).     

Interior points of convex hulls

If a setX ⊂E ⁿ has non-emptyk-dimensional interior, or if some point isk-dimensional surrounded, then the classic theorem of E. Steinitz may be extended. For example ifX ⊂E ⁿ has int _k X ≠ 0, (0 ≦k≦n) and ifp ɛ int conX, thenp ɛ int conY for someY ⊂X with cardY≦2n−k+1.     

A Note on the Minimal Volume of Almost Cubic Parallelepipeds

   Abstract. We prove that the best way to reduce the volume of the n -dimensional unit cube by a linear transformation that maps each of the main vertices