A fast line-sweep algorithm for hidden line elimination

Fast hidden line elimination algorithms can be obtained by minor modifications to algorithms developed for reporting intersections of polygons. We show how the same modifications which have been applied to segment trees can be applied to the data structure of Swart and Ladner as well, leading to anO((n+k)logn) time hidden line elimination algorithm (n is the number of boundary edges of the input polygons andk is the number of intersections of the edges on the projection plane). The algorithm improves the fastest previous line-sweep algorithm for the problem by a factorO(logn).This work was supported by the grant Ot 64/4-2 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.On leave from the Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Finland.     

Rectilinear shortest paths in the presence of rectangular barriers

In this paper we address the following shortest-path problem. Given a point in the plane andn disjoint isothetic rectangles (barriers), we want to construct a shortestL ₁ path (not crossing any of the barriers) from the source point to any given query point. A restricted version of this problem (where the source and destination points are knowna priori) had been solved earlier inO(n ²) time. Our approach consists of preprocessing the source point and the barriers to obtain a planar subdivision where a query point can be located and a shortest path connecting it to the source point quickly transvered. By showing that any such path is monotone in at least one ofx ory directions, we are able to apply a plane sweep technique to divide the plane intoO(n) rectangular regions. This leads to an algorithm whose complexity isO(n logn) preprocessing time,O(n) space, andO(logn+k) query time, wherek is the number of turns on the reported path. If only the length of the path is sought,O(logn) query time suffices. Furthermore, we show an (n logn) time lower bound for the case where the source and destination points are known in advance, which implies the optimality of our algorithm in this case.A preliminary version of this paper appeared in theProceedings of the First Symposium on Computational Geometry (1985).Supported in part by CNPq-Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brazil).Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants MCS 8420814 and ECS 8340031.     

On rectangular visibility

Given a set of n points in the plane, two points are said to be rectangularly visible if the orthogonal rectangle with the two points as opposite vertices has no other point of the set in its interior. In this paper it is shown that all pairs of rectangularly visible points in a set of size n can be determined in O(n log n + k) time, where k is the number of reported pairs, using O(n) space. Also, we consider the query problem: Given a set V of points and an arbitrary point p, determine those points in V that are rectangularly visible from p. A dynamic data structure is described that uses O(n log n) space, has a query time of O(k + log²n) and an update time of O(log³ n). Additionally, we extend the results to the 3-dimensional case.     

Dynamic Point Location in General Subdivisions

The dynamic planar point location problem is the task of maintaining a dynamic set S of n nonintersecting (except possibly at endpoints) line segments in the plane under the following operations:

• Locate (: point): Report the segment immediately above , i.e., the first segment intersected by an upward vertical ray starting at ;

• Insert (: segment): Add segment to the collection of segments;

• Delete (: segment): Remove segment from the collection of segments.

We present a solution which requires space O(n) and has query and insertion time O(log n log log n) and deletion time O(log²n). The bounds for insertions and deletions are amortized. A query time below O(log²n) was previously only known for monotone subdivisions and subdivisions consisting of horizontal segments and required nonlinear space.     

Gray codes in graphs of subsets

Let G(n,k) be a graph whose vertices are the k-element subsets of an n-set represented as n-tuples of “O's” and “1's” with k “1's”. Two such subsets are adjacent if one can be obtained from the other by switching a “O” and a “1” which are in adjacent positions, where the first and nth positions are also considered adjacent. The problem of finding hamiltonian cycles in G(n,k) is discussed. This may be considered a problem of finding “Gray codes” of the k-element subsets of an n-set. It is shown that no such cycle exists if n and k are both even or if k=2 and n?7 and that such a cycle does exist in all other cases where k?5.     

Computing a maxian point of a simple rectilinear polygon

Let P be a simple rectilinear polygon with n vertices. There are k points in P. The maxian problem is to locate a single facility in P so as to maximize the sum of its distance from it to the k points. We present an O((n×k)logn) time algorithm for this problem.     

Efficient Computation of Rectilinear Geodesic Voronoi Neighbor in the Presence of Obstacles

In this paper we present an algorithm to compute the rectilinear geodesic voronoi neighbor of an arbitrary query pointqamong a setSofmpoints in the presence of a set ofnvertical line segment obstacles inside a rectangular floor. The distance between a pair of points α and β is the shortest rectilinear distance avoiding the obstacles in and is denoted by δ(α, β). The rectilinear geodesic voronoi neighbor of an arbitrary query pointq,RGVN(q) is the pointp_i ∈ Ssuch that δ(q, p_i) is minimum. The algorithm suggests a preprocessing of the elements of the setsSand inO((m + n)log(m + n)) time such that for an arbitrary query pointq, theRGVNquery can be answered inO(log(m + n)) time. The space required for storing the preprocessed information isO(n + m log m). If the points inSare placed on the boundary of the rectangular floor, a different technique is adopted to decrease the space complexity toO(m + n). This technique works even if the obstacles are rectangles instead of line segments. Finally, the parallelization of the preprocessing steps for the latter algorithm is suggested, which takesO(log³(m + n)) time, usingO((m + n)^1.5/log²(m + n)) processors andO(log(m + n)) query time.     

On a class of degenerate extremal graph problems

Given a class ? of (so called “forbidden”) graphs, ex (n, ?) denotes the maximum number of edges a graphG ⁿ of ordern can have without containing subgraphs from ?. If ? contains bipartite graphs, then ex (n, ?)=O(n ^2?c ) for somec>0, and the above problem is calleddegenerate. One important degenerate extremal problem is the case whenC _2k , a cycle of 2k vertices, is forbidden. According to a theorem of P. Erd?s, generalized by A. J. Bondy and M. Simonovits [3₂, ex (n, {C _2k })=O(n ^1+1/k ). In this paper we shall generalize this result and investigate some related questions.     

The power of geometric duality

This paper uses a new formulation of the notion of duality that allows the unified treatment of a number of geometric problems. In particular, we are able to apply our approach to solve two long-standing problems of computational geometry: one is to obtain a quadratic algorithm for computing the minimum-area triangle with vertices chosen amongn points in the plane; the other is to produce an optimal algorithm for the half-plane range query problem. This problem is to preprocessn points in the plane, so that given a test half-plane, one can efficiently determine all points lying in the half-plane. We describe an optimalO(k + logn) time algorithm for answering such queries, wherek is the number of points to be reported. The algorithm requiresO(n) space andO(n logn) preprocessing time. Both of these results represent significant improvements over the best methods previously known. In addition, we give a number of new combinatorial results related to the computation of line arrangements.     

Intersection queries in sets of disks

In this paper we develop some new data structures for storing a set of disks that can answer different types of intersection queries efficiency. If the disks are non-intersecting we obtain a linear size data structure that can report allk disks intersecting a query line segment in timeO(n ⁺ +k), wheren is the number of disks,=log₂(1+5)–1 0.695, and is an arbitrarily small positive constant. If the segment is a full line, the query time becomesO(n +k). For intersecting disks we obtain anO(n logn) size data structure that can answer an intersection query in timeO(n ^2/3 log² n+k). We also present a linear size data structure for ray shooting queries, whose query time isO(n ).The research of the first two authors was supported by the ESPRIT Basic Research Action No. 3075 (project ALCOM). The work of the third author was supported byDimacs (Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center — NSF-STC88-09648.     

On optimal right-of-way policies at a single-server station when insertion of idle times is permitted

A general stream of n types of customers arrives at a Single Server station where service is non-preemptive, the server may undergo Poisson breakdowns and insertion of idle times is allowed. If ξ(k) and c(k) are, respectively, the expected service time and sojourn cost per unit time of a type k customer (1?k?n), call k “V.I.P.” type if ξ(k)/c(k) = min_1?i?n[ξ(i)/sbc(i)].We show that any right-of-way service policy can be improved by a policy that grants V.I.P. customers priority over all others, and never inserts idle time when a V.I.P. customer is present.We further show that if the arrival stream is Poisson, the so-called “cμ” priority rule (applied with no delays) is optimal in the class of all service policies, and not just among those of a priority nature.     

Forbidden (0,1)-Vectors in Hyperplanes of ℝ n : The Restricted Case

In this paper we continue our investigation on “Extremal problems under dimension constraint” introduced in [2]. Let E(n, k) be the set of (0,1)-vectors in ? ⁿ with k one's. Given 1 ≤ m, w ≤ n let X ? E(n, m) satisfy span (X) ∩ E(n, w) = ?. How big can |X| be? This is the main problem studied in this paper. We solve this problem for all parameters 1 ≤ m, w ≤ n and n > n ₀(m, w).     

The number of 3-SAT functions

With G _k (n) denoting the number of functions of n Boolean variables definable by k-SAT formulas, we prove that G ₃(n) is asymptotic to 2 ⁿ +( ₃ ⁿ ). This is a strong form of the case k = 3 of a conjecture of Bollobás, Brightwell and Leader stating that for fixed k, log₂ G _k (n)~( _k ⁿ ).     

A sharp threshold for minimum bounded-depth and bounded-diameter spanning trees and Steiner trees in random networks

In the complete graph on n vertices, when each edge has a weight which is an exponential random variable, Frieze proved that the minimum spanning tree has weight tending to ζ(3) = 1/1³ + 1/2³ + 1/3³ +… as n → ∞. We consider spanning trees constrained to have depth bounded by k from a specified root. We prove that if k ≥ log₂ logn+ω(1), where ω(1) is any function going to ∞ with n, then the minimum bounded-depth spanning tree still has weight tending to ζ(3) as n → ∞, and that if k < log₂ logn, then the weight is doubly-exponentially large in log₂ logn ? k. It is NP-hard to find the minimum bounded-depth spanning tree, but when k≤log₂ logn?ω(1), a simple greedy algorithm is asymptotically optimal, and when k ≥ log₂ logn+ω(1), an algorithm which makes small changes to the minimum (unbounded depth) spanning tree is asymptotically optimal. We prove similar results for minimum bounded-depth Steiner trees, where the tree must connect a specified set of m vertices, and may or may not include other vertices. In particular, when m=const×n, if k≥log₂ logn+ω(1), the minimum bounded-depth Steiner tree on the complete graph has asymptotically the same weight as the minimum Steiner tree, and if 1 ≤ k ≤ log₂ logn?ω(1), the weight tends to $(1 - 2^{ - k} )\sqrt {8m/n} \left[ {\sqrt {2mn} /2^k } \right]^{1/(2^k - 1)}$ in both expectation and probability. The same results hold for minimum bounded-diameter Steiner trees when the diameter bound is 2k; when the diameter bound is increased from 2k to 2k+1, the minimum Steiner tree weight is reduced by a factor of $2^{1/(2^k - 1)}$ .     

Network delay in a model with inputs of functional elements

We consider a model of delays in networks of functional elements in an arbitrary finite complete basis B, where the delays of basis elements are arbitrary positive real numbers for each input and each input set of variables going to the remaining inputs. This model estimates the delays in a multiplexer function of nth order asymptotically as τ_B n ± O(logn), where τ_B is a constant depending only on the basis B. On the basis of these estimates and within this model, asymptotic estimates of the form τ_B n ± O(logn) are obtained for the corresponding Shannon function, i.e., for the delay of the “worst” Boolean algebra function of given n variables.     

Fast deterministic approximation for the multicommodity flow problem

In this paper we consider an optimization version of the multicommodity flow problem which is known as the maximum concurrent flow problem. We show that an approximate solution to this problem can be computed deterministically using O(k(ε ⁻² + logk) logn) 1-commodity minimum-cost flow computations, wherek is the number of commodities,n is the number of nodes, andε is the desired precision. We obtain this bound by proving that in the randomized algorithm developed by Leighton et al. (1995) the random selection of commodities can be replaced by the deterministic round-robin without increasing the total running time. Our bound significantly improves the previously known deterministic upper bounds and matches the best known randomized upper bound for the approximation concurrent flow problem. A preliminary version of this paper appeared inProceedings of the 6th ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, San Francisco CA, 1995, pp. 486–492.     

On the number of line separations of a finite set in the plane

Let S denote a set of n points in the Euclidean plane. A subset S′ of S is termed a k-set of S if it contains k points and there exists a straight line which has no point of S on it and separates S′ from S?S′. We let f_k(n) denote the maximum number of k-sets which can be realized by a set of n points. This paper studies the asymptotic behaviour of f_k(n) as this function has applications to a number of problems in computational geometry. A lower and an upper bound on f_k(n) is established. Both are nontrivial and improve bounds known before. In particular, $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{k}}\text{(n) = f}{}_{\mathrm{n?k}}\text{(n) = Ω(n}\text{log}\text{k)}$ is shown by exhibiting special point-sets which realize that many k-sets. In addition, $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{k}}\text{(n) = f}{}_{\mathrm{n?k}}\text{(n) = O(nk}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ is proved by the study of a combinatorial problem which is of interest in its own right.     

On the number of groups of a given order

Letting G(n) denote the number of nonisomorphic groups of order n, it is shown that for square-free n, G(n) ≤ ?(n) and G(n) ≤ (log n)^c on a set of positive density. Letting F_k(x) denote the number of n ≤ x for which G(n) = k, it is shown that $\text{F}{}_2\text{(x) =}\text{O(x(}\text{log}{}_4\text{x)}\text{(}\text{log}{}_3\text{x)}{}^2\text{)}$, where log_rx denotes the r-fold iterated logarithm.