Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
1 vote
0 answers
137 views

A comparison between packing and covering as classes of problems

We continue from Bounds for the Dispersal Problem in convex regions and Bounds for minimax facility location in a convex region Let us consider the classes of problems: Given a convex region $R$ and ...
Nandakumar R's user avatar
  • 5,979
4 votes
0 answers
144 views

Approximation of a convex shape in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space for $d\gg 1$

We are given a convex shape $C$ lying inside the hypercube $[0,1]^d$ in the $d$-dimensional Euclidean space. Let the volume of $C$ be $\tfrac12$ (I guess nothing changes for any other fixed constant ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
886 views

Happy ants never leave compact domain?

I am curious if the following seemingly simple question has an easy answer? Consider an ant population of $N$ ants that lives in $\mathbb R^2$. Each ant can be labeled by some coordinate $x\in \mathbb ...
Pritam Bemis's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

Elementary precise estimate of the covering number of euclidean balls by hypercubes

I am looking for a straightforward way to upper bound the covering number of a $d$-dimensional euclidean ball by $\ell_\infty$-balls of radius $\varepsilon$, which I will call cubes of sidelength $2\...
hHhh's user avatar
  • 172
2 votes
0 answers
131 views

Optimal way to group points in the plane into clusters

Consider a strictly decreasing sequence $d = (d_k)_{k\ge 1}$ of distances in $(0,1)$. Given a constant $C>2$, we say that $d$ has the $C$-grouping property if any finite non-empty subset $S$ (of ...
Mohan Swaminathan's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
279 views

Combinatorial optimization problem with interdependent constraints on points in $[0,1]$

We are given a set $S$ of $n$ real numbers in $[0,1]$, with $0,1\in S$, and a value $\alpha\in(0,1/2)$. For each ordered triplet $(i,j,k)$ of values contained in $S$ (with $i\le j \le k$), we define ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
114 views

Packing in uniform domains

Given $N$ points $X:=(x_i)_{i \in \{1,..,N\}}$, we now define a score function $S:X \rightarrow \mathbb{N}$ that is $S(X)= \sum_{i=1}^N S(x_i)$ where the score of $S(x_i)$ is $$S(x_i) = 2* \vert \{x_j;...
Sascha's user avatar
  • 536
5 votes
0 answers
313 views

Trade-off between covering number, ball radius and diameter of $d$-dimensional shapes

Given any $d$-dimensional shape $X$ in the Euclidean space, let $\ell(X)$ be the length of the longest line segment connecting two points of $X$. How can we prove the following statement? There exists ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
134 views

Two questions on counterexamples to Borsuk's conjecture and ball-packings

In 1933 Karol Borsuk conjectured the following Can every bounded subset $E$ of $\mathbb{R}^d$ be partitioned into $(d+1)$ sets, each of which has a smaller diameter than $E$? Whilst new to this ...
Felix's user avatar
  • 31
5 votes
0 answers
199 views

Existence of a honeycomb composed by nearly-hyperspherical $d$-dimensional cells having the same shape and size

Let $\mathcal{H}$ the class of all honeycombs composed by $d$-dimensional cells $C$ having all the same shape and size in a $d$-dimensional space $\mathcal{S}$. Let $s(C)$ and $\ell(C)$ be ...
Penelope Benenati's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
1k views

How to pack 27 $a\times b\times c$ blocks into a cube of side $a+b+c$ with some kind of symmetry?

Recently I stumbled on the problem quoted here about a geometric proof of the AM-GM inequality $$(a_1+\cdots+a_n)^n\ge n^n a_1\cdots a_n$$ by packing $n^n$ rectangular $ n$-dimensional boxes of sides $...
Wolfgang's user avatar
  • 13.4k
9 votes
1 answer
274 views

Integer sets with forbidden differences

Given a finite set $S$ of positive integers, and a positive integer $n$, let $F(n,S)$ be the largest possible cardinality of a subset of {$1,2,\dots,n$} no two of whose elements differ by a number in $...
James Propp's user avatar
  • 19.7k
1 vote
0 answers
124 views

The smallest disk containing all cirular arcs

In a comment to my recent question about covering segments by a disk, Gerhard Paseman has suggested a generalisation: replacing the segments of the original $n$-gon by a simple closed (say, convex) ...
Wolfgang's user avatar
  • 13.4k
16 votes
5 answers
712 views

The smallest disk containing all sides of an $n$-gon

Start with a regular $n$-gon of side 1 and consider its sides as open segments that can be moved around in the plane, allowing only translations. Two segments may not intersect. What is the radius ...
Wolfgang's user avatar
  • 13.4k