A Finite Non-Unit Free Triangle Order

The notion of a free triangle representation of a partially ordered set was first introduced by Josh Laison [4] as a generalization of the ideas of interval and trapezoid representations. A free triangle representation assigns a triangle to each element of a partially ordered set, with all triangles having one vertex on each of two parallel baselines and a third ‘free’ vertex between the two baselines. In a previous paper [1] we presented an example of an infinite non-unit free triangle order. In this paper we use some of the same ideas to construct an example of a finite, albeit more complicated, non-unit free triangle order.The majority of the content in this paper (theorems, proofs, etc.) was prepared before Ken's untimely death in March of 2005.     

Free Triangle Orders

We define a new class of ordered sets, called free triangle orders. These are ordered sets represented by a left-to-right ordering on geometric objects contained in a horizontal strip in the plane. The objects are called 'free triangles', and have one vertex on each of the two boundaries of the strip and one vertex in its interior. These ordered sets generalize the classes of trapezoid and triangle orders studied by Bogart, Möhring, and Ryan, represented by trapezoids and triangles respectively, contained within a strip in the plane, and are a special case of the orders of tube dimension 2 introduced by Habib and co-workers, which are represented by any set of convex bodies contained within a strip in the plane. Our main result is that the class of free triangle orders strictly contains the class of trapezoid orders.     

Area functions on affine planes

Oriented area functions are functions defined on the set of ordered triangles of an affine plane which are antisymmetric under odd permutations of the vertices and which behave additively when triangles are cut into two. We compare several elementary properties which such an area function may have (roughly speaking shear invariance, equality of area of the two triangles obtained by cutting a parallelogram along a diagonal, and equality of area of the two triangles obtained by cutting a triangle along a median). It turns out purely by arguments of elementary affine geometry (if cleverly arranged) that these properties are grosso modo equivalent, although one has to be careful about “pathological” situations. Furthermore, all oriented area functions satisfying these properties are explicitly determined. Finally they are compared with so-called geometric valuations.     

Each maximal planar graph with exactly two separating triangles is Hamiltonian

A classical result of Whitney states that each maximal planar graph without separating triangles is Hamiltonian, where a separating triangle is a triangle whose removal separates the graph. Chen [Any maximal planar graph with only one separating triangle is Hamiltonian J. Combin. Optim. 7 (2003) 79-86] proved that any maximal planar graph with only one separating triangle is still Hamiltonian. In this paper, it is shown that the conclusion of Whitney's Theorem still holds if there are exactly two separating triangles.     

Triangle Contact Representations and Duality

A?contact representation by triangles of a graph is a set of triangles in the plane such that two triangles intersect on at most one point, each triangle represents a vertex of the graph and two triangles intersects if and only if their corresponding vertices are adjacent. De Fraysseix, Ossona de Mendez and Rosenstiehl proved that every planar graph admits a contact representation by triangles. We strengthen this in terms of a simultaneous contact representation by triangles of a planar map and of its dual. A?primal?Cdual contact representation by triangles of a planar map is a contact representation by triangles of the primal and a contact representation by triangles of the dual such that for every edge uv, bordering faces f and g, the intersection between the triangles corresponding to u and v is the same point as the intersection between the triangles corresponding to f and g. We prove that every 3-connected planar map admits a primal?Cdual contact representation by triangles. Moreover, the interiors of the triangles form a tiling of the triangle corresponding to the outer face and each contact point is a corner of exactly three triangles. Then we show that these representations are in one-to-one correspondence with generalized Schnyder woods defined by Felsner for 3-connected planar maps.     

Two row mixed-integer cuts via lifting

Recently Andersen et al. [1], Borozan and Cornuéjols [6] and Cornuéjols and Margot [9] have characterized the extreme valid inequalities of a mixed integer set consisting of two equations with two free integer variables and non-negative continuous variables. These inequalities are either split cuts or intersection cuts derived using maximal lattice-free convex sets. In order to use these inequalities to obtain cuts from two rows of a general simplex tableau, one approach is to extend the system to include all possible non-negative integer variables (giving the two row mixed-integer infinite-group problem), and to develop lifting functions giving the coefficients of the integer variables in the corresponding inequalities. In this paper, we study the characteristics of these lifting functions. We show that there exists a unique lifting function that yields extreme inequalities when starting from a maximal lattice-free triangle with multiple integer points in the relative interior of one of its sides, or a maximal lattice-free triangle with integral vertices and one integer point in the relative interior of each side. In the other cases (maximal lattice-free triangles with one integer point in the relative interior of each side and non-integral vertices, and maximal lattice-free quadrilaterals), non-unique lifting functions may yield distinct extreme inequalities. For the latter family of triangles, we present sufficient conditions to yield an extreme inequality for the two row mixed-integer infinite-group problem.     

On a tiling problem of R.B. Eggleton

A tiling of the plane with polygonal tiles is said to be strict if any point common to two tiles is a vertex of both or a vertex of neither. A triangle is said to be rational if its sides have rational length. Recently R.B. Eggleton asked if it is possible to strictly tile the plane with rational triangles using precisely one triangle from each congruence class. In this paper we constructively prove the existence of such a tiling by a suitable modification of the technique suggested by Eggleton. The theory of rational points on elliptic curves, in particular, the Nagell-Lutz theorem, plays a crucial role in completing the proof.     

Triangulation refinement by using edge subdivision

It is proved that any triangulation of a flat polygonal region can be refined by using repeated subdivisions of an edge so that: (1) the maximum diameter of the triangles would be less than any pre-assigned positive number, and (2) the minimum interior angle of the triangles of the triangulation obtained would be not less than the minimum interior angle of the triangles of the original triangulation divided by 9. The required triangulation refinement is constructed in two steps: first, the triangulation is refined so that the triangles of the triangulation obtained can be combined into pairs, and only boundary triangles may be left unpaired; at this step each triangle is split into at most 4 parts. Then the triangulation obtained is refined once again in order that the diameter of each triangle be less then a prescribed ?. At each of the steps, the minimum interior angle of triangles is reduced by at most 3 times. This is guaranteed by the lemma saying that the interior angles of the triangles into which the original triangle is divided by a median are at least as great as one-third of the minimum interior angle of the original triangle.     

A combinatorial proof of a fixed point property

A class of finite simplicial complexes, called pseudo cones, is developed that has a number of useful combinatorial properties. A partially ordered set is a pseudo cone if its order complex is a pseudo cone. Pseudo cones can be constructed from other pseudo cones in a number of ways. Pseudo cone ordered sets include finite dismantlable ordered sets and finite truncated noncomplemented lattices. The main result of the paper is a combinatorial proof of the fixed simplex property for finite pseudo cones in which a combinatorial structure is constructed that relates fixed simplices to one another. This gives combinatorial proofs of some well known non-constructive results in the fixed point theory of finite partially ordered sets.     

Small Edge Sets Meeting all Triangles of a Graph

It was conjectured in 1981 by the third author that if a graph G does not contain more than t pairwise edge-disjoint triangles, then there exists a set of at most 2t edges that shares an edge with each triangle of G. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for odd-wheel-free graphs and for ‘triangle-3-colorable’ graphs, where the latter property means that the edges of the graph can be colored with three colors in such a way that each triangle receives three distinct colors on its edges. Among the consequences we obtain that the conjecture holds for every graph with chromatic number at most four. Also, two subclasses of K ₄-free graphs are identified, in which the maximum number of pairwise edge-disjoint triangles is equal to the minimum number of edges covering all triangles. In addition, we prove that the recognition problem of triangle-3-colorable graphs is intractable.     

Coverage problems and visibility regions on topographic surfaces

The viewshed of a point on an irregular topographic surface is defined as the area visible from the point. The area visible from a set of points is the union of their viewsheds. We consider the problems of locating the minimum number of viewpoints to see the entire surface, and of locating a fixed number of viewpoints to maximize the area visible, and possible extensions. We discuss alternative methods of representing the surface in digital form, and adopt a TIN or triangulated irregular network as the most suitable data structure. The space is tesselated into a network of irregular triangles whose vertices have known elevations and whose edges join vertices which are Thiessen neighbours, and the surface is represented in each one by a plane. Visibility is approximated as a property of each triangle: a triangle is defined as visible from a point if all of its edges are fully visible. We present algorithms for determination of visibility, and thus reduce the problems to variants of the location set covering and maximal set covering problems. We examine the performance of a variety of heuristics.     

A generalization of Hanani's theorem on partial order

The theorem of Hanani referred to in the title of this note states that, if a partially ordered set has cardinal not exceeding 1/2n(n+3) (n=1,2,...), then it can be expressed as the union ofn sets each of which is either a chain or an antichain. A corresponding result is now obtained for a set equipped with an arbitrary number of partial order relations.     

Brambles and independent packings in chordal graphs

An independent packing of triangles is a set of pairwise disjoint triangles, no two of which are joined by an edge. A triangle bramble is a set of triangles, every pair of which intersect or are joined by an edge. More generally, I consider independent packings and brambles of any specified connected graphs, not just triangles. I give a min-max theorem for the maximum number of graphs in an independent packing of any family of connected graphs in a chordal graph, and a dual min-max theorem for the maximum number of graphs in a bramble in a chordal graph.     

Uncountable Homogeneous Partial Orders

A partially ordered set (P, ≤) is called k‐homogeneous if any isomorphism between k‐element subsets extends to an automorphism of (P, ≤). Assuming the set‐theoretic assumption ⋄(ϰ₁), it is shown that for each k, there exist partially ordered sets of size ϰ₁ which embed each countable partial order and are k‐homogeneous, but not (k + 1)‐homogeneous. This is impossible in the countable case for k ≥ 4.     

Multithread parallelization of Lepp-bisection algorithms

Longest edge (nested) algorithms for triangulation refinement in two dimensions are able to produce hierarchies of quality and nested irregular triangulations as needed both for adaptive finite element methods and for multigrid methods. They can be formulated in terms of the longest edge propagation path (Lepp) and terminal edge concepts, to refine the target triangles and some related neighbors. We discuss a parallel multithread algorithm, where every thread is in charge of refining a triangle t and its associated Lepp neighbors. The thread manages a changing Lepp(t) (ordered set of increasing triangles) both to find a last longest (terminal) edge and to refine the pair of triangles sharing this edge. The process is repeated until triangle t is destroyed. We discuss the algorithm, related synchronization issues, and the properties inherited from the serial algorithm. We present an empirical study that shows that a reasonably efficient parallel method with good scalability was obtained.     

Besicovitch triangles cover unit arcs

A long standing conjecture is that the Besicovitch triangle, i.e., an equilateral triangle with side is a worm-cover. We will show that indeed there exists a class of isosceles triangles, that includes the above equilateral triangle, where each triangle from the class is a worm-cover. These triangles are defined so that the shortest symmetric z-arc stretched from side to side and touching the base would have length one.      

Angle orders and zeros

An angle order is a partially ordered set whose points can be mapped into unbounded angular regions in the plane such that x is less than y in the partial order if and only if x's angular region is properly included in y's. The zero augmentation of a partially ordered set adds one point to the set that is less than all original points. We prove that there are finite angle orders whose augmentations are not angle orders. The proof makes extensive use of Ramsey theory.     

Quasi-randomness and the distribution of copies of a fixed graph

We show that if a graph G has the property that all subsets of vertices of size n/4 contain the “correct” number of triangles one would expect to find in a random graph G(n, 1/2), then G behaves like a random graph, that is, it is quasi-random in the sense of Chung, Graham, and Wilson [6]. This answers positively an open problem of Simonovits and Sós [10], who showed that in order to deduce that G is quasi-random one needs to assume that all sets of vertices have the correct number of triangles. A similar improvement of [10] is also obtained for any fixed graph other than the triangle, and for any edge density other than 1/2. The proof relies on a theorem of Gottlieb [7] in algebraic combinatorics, concerning the rank of set inclusion matrices.     

Properties of triangulations obtained by the longest-edge bisection

The Longest-Edge (LE) bisection of a triangle is obtained by joining the midpoint of its longest edge with the opposite vertex. Here two properties of the longest-edge bisection scheme for triangles are proved. For any triangle, the number of distinct triangles (up to similarity) generated by longest-edge bisection is finite. In addition, if LE-bisection is iteratively applied to an initial triangle, then minimum angle of the resulting triangles is greater or equal than a half of the minimum angle of the initial angle. The novelty of the proofs is the use of an hyperbolic metric in a shape space for triangles.     

A macro plane triangle element from the individual element test

A simple way to make the closed forms stiffness matrix of macro triangle elements is proposed through the individual element test and the computational algebra system in this paper. The newly developed element consists of three constant strain triangles, which only satisfy the convergence conditions according to the individual element test. Computational algebra system MAPLE and the free formulation framework are used to combine the stiffness matrix with the free parameters in terms of the algebraic symbols. The assembly of three constant strain triangles produces the linear strain modes in the resulted macro elements. The rigid body modes and constant strain modes of elements and the newly produced linear strain modes of the macro element are systematically assembled in the basic stiffness and the higher order stiffness in the free formulation procedure. The parameter of the decomposed higher order stiffness was tuned through the bending test. The results of numerical examples show the advantages of the proposed macro element in the distorted mesh and elements with the high aspect ratio.