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16 votes
0 answers
298 views

Realization spaces of 3-dimensional polytopes with fixed face areas

It is a well-know result (Steinitz, 1922) that the realization space of 3-dimensional convex polytopes with fixed combinatorics is contractible. A proof of this theorem can be found for instance in ...
Misha's user avatar
  • 31.2k
3 votes
1 answer
518 views

n-dimensional Delaunay Triangulation of Lattices

I have several questions concerning the Delaunay triangulation of a high dimensional lattice. Given an $n$-dimensional lattice $L$ and its Delaunay triangulation (partition of $R^n$ into simplices ...
Jinx's user avatar
  • 31
4 votes
3 answers
499 views

Repeating an operation infinitely makes any convex $n$-gon a regular $n$-gon?

For any convex $n$-gon $P_{0,1}P_{0,2}\cdots P_{0,n}$, let us consider the following operation : Operation : Let $k=0,1,\cdots$. Take $n$ points $P_{k+1,i}\ (i=1,2,\cdots,n)$ outside of $n$-gon $P_{...
mathlove's user avatar
  • 4,757
4 votes
1 answer
316 views

A construction related to scissors congruence

I was thinking about the following some time ago. My question is whether such things have been studied before. Let $E_n$ be the abelian group with a generator for each (bounded) euclidean polytope of ...
Tom Goodwillie's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is a given point in the interior of the convex hull of a given finite collection of points?

Suppose I have the convex hull $P$ of a finite collection of points in $\mathbb{R}^d,$ and I want to see whether a point $p$ is contained in $P.$ This is a standard (some would say the standard linear ...
Igor Rivin's user avatar
  • 96.4k
17 votes
2 answers
2k views

Efficiently determine if convex hull contains the unit ball

Given a set of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, is there an algorithm to determine if the convex hull contains the unit ball centered at the origin in polynomial time (in both $n$ and $d$)? The convex ...
Simd's user avatar
  • 3,377
11 votes
0 answers
352 views

Right-angled polytopes

%This question is motivated by the little discussion here at the bottom. The following thing are known about hyperbolic right-angled polytopes: Compact hyperbolic right-angled polytopes do not exist ...
SashaKolpakov's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
253 views

name for a polytope constructed from a system of linear equations?

To a system of inhomogeneous linear equations, one can associate a polytope, as follows. Let $A\in\mathbb{R}^{m\times n}$, $b\in\mathbb{R}^m$ and $V=\{x\mid Ax=b, \text{support of $x$ minimal}\}\...
Dima Pasechnik's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
333 views

n-simplex in an intersection of n balls

Consider any $n$-simplex, $n \geq 2$. For each edge $(i,j)$, consider $n$-ball $B_{ij}$ such that vertices $x_i$ and $x_j$ are antipodal on this ball. Fix a point $x_0$ in the simplex. The question: ...
Max's user avatar
  • 195
10 votes
0 answers
333 views

Bi-spherical polyhedra

Bicentric polygons have been studied: a polygon all of whose vertices lie on its circumcirle, and whose incircle is tangent to every edge:   I have not been able to find a comparable literature ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
15 votes
1 answer
640 views

Smallest regular simplex containing the unit cube in $R^n$

What is the length $e_n$ of the edge of the smallest $n$-dimensional regular simplex $S_n$ containing the $n$-dimensional unit cube $Q_n$? In particular, is there $n$ such that $e_n<\sqrt{2}(n+1-\...
Jan Kyncl's user avatar
  • 6,101
1 vote
2 answers
570 views

Hales's fan associated with a polyhedron

In Hales's book (cited below), he associates what he calls a fan with any convex polyhedron in $\mathbb{R}^3$. I will not define his notion of fan, but let his figure (p.137) serve as a definition:    ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
326 views

Do maximal polyhedra have algebraic volume?

Is it possible to prove that for every $n > 3$ the maximal possible volume of a convex polyhedron having $n$ vertices inscribed in a sphere of unit radius is an algebraic number? Update: What can ...
Vladimir Reshetnikov's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
233 views

Equiprojective polyhedra

Seeing Garabed Gulbenkian's question (which was inspired by Joel Hamkins' question), reminds me of an analogous problem which I believe remains open, and which some might find intriguing. Define an ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
563 views

Covering convex polygons with inscribed disks

The following problem came up when discussing mapping software (e.g., Google maps) with computer scientists. By $B(c,r)$ I mean the planar disk (open or closed, it doesn't matter) of radius $r$ around ...
Vidit Nanda's user avatar
  • 15.5k
4 votes
1 answer
250 views

Zoll Flat Finsler tori and convex bodies on a starry night

The starry night. The "celestial sphere" is given by set of non-zero vectors in $\mathbb{R}^n$ modulo positive dilations (i.e., $v \equiv w$ if $v = \lambda w$ for some $ \lambda > 0$) and the "...
alvarezpaiva's user avatar
  • 13.5k
4 votes
1 answer
367 views

convex polyhedron in the unit cube

Let $P$ be a given finite set of points within the $n$-dimensional unit cube. A finite set $Q$ of points within the $n$-dimensional unit cube covers $P$ if $\operatorname{conv}(Q) \supseteq P$ where $\...
Stefan Kiefer's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
424 views

Needle probing for a convex body

Suppose there is an unknown closed convex body $K$ of volume vol$(K) = V$ inside the unit cube $[-\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}]^d$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$. You are permitted to probe with a (one-dimensional) ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
665 views

Question about tetrahedron decomposition

Are there tetrahedra which can be subdivided into three non-overlapping parts similar to the original? I believe this would require splitting one face into three parts. I know some types of tetrahedra ...
Dennis Farr's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
201 views

Simplex with edges of length at least s having smallest circumradius

Is it true that of all $n$-simplices with edge lengths greater than or equal to some parameter $s$, the regular simplex with edge lengths $s$ has the smallest circumradius? It seems obvious, but I ...
user21277's user avatar
  • 185
1 vote
2 answers
431 views

Higher dimensional convex hull

Let $CH(S)$ be a convex hull of a finite set $S$ and denote the set of all the vertices of $CH(S)$ as $Vert(S)$. For a vertex $v \in Vert(S)$, it has an associated set $E(v)$ which is defined as $E(v)=...
user avatar
25 votes
3 answers
994 views

Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas?

Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose faces all have rational areas? Does every convex polyhedron have a combinatorially isomorphic counterpart whose edges ...
Liu Jin Tsai's user avatar
13 votes
0 answers
252 views

Does there always exist a self dual polytope that contains a given polytope contained in its dual?

Suppose a polytope $P$ is contained in its dual polytope $\tilde{P}$. Does there always exist a polytope $Q$ that contains $P$ and is self dual $Q=\tilde{Q}$? Is there any bound on the minimal number ...
Huangjun Zhu's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
387 views

Extreme rays in the cone of (semi)metrics

How many extreme rays are there on the polytopal cone formed by all semimetrics on a set with $n$ elements? Some background. Given a set $X$ with $n$ elements, the set of all semimetrics $d:X \times ...
alvarezpaiva's user avatar
  • 13.5k
2 votes
2 answers
1k views

Convex upper bound on a linear-fractional function

I have a function of the form $f(x,y) = \frac{x}{c+y}$ where $c$ is a positive constant, $c \ge x \ge 0$, and $y \ge 0$. I would like to find a convex upper-bound for this function. Is there a ...
Norouzi's user avatar
  • 362
1 vote
0 answers
185 views

Compute generalized pentagram map

Hi, (This is my first question on MathOverflow! :-) Imagine you have a set of points $S = \{p_1, \ldots, p_n\}$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$, of which $t$ are "bad". I want to compute a "safe convex hull", ...
hmendes's user avatar
  • 11
16 votes
2 answers
3k views

Approximating a convex function by a piecewise linear function

Suppose I have a Lipschitz-continuous convex function $f:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$. I wish to approximate it on the unit ball by a piecewise-linear function $g:\mathbb{R}^n\rightarrow \...
Flavio Burton's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
567 views

Realization spaces for regular convex polytopes

Q1. Are there convex polytopes combinatorially equivalent to each of the regular polytopes that are realized with integer vertex coordinates?         &...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
641 views

Can all convex polytopes be realized with vertices on surface of convex body?

The following question was asked by me on Mathematics.SE. Unfortunately, no one answered it so I thought I might give it a try one level higher. Below the line you can find the slightly edited ...
Gregor Samsa's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
1k views

Do random projections (approximately) preserve convexity?

The Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma implies that any set of $k$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ can be randomly projected into $d' \approx \log(k)/\epsilon^2$ dimensions such that the distances between each pair ...
Cecil B's user avatar
  • 253
5 votes
0 answers
104 views

Regularity of simplices, part deux

This question is directly inspired by Pietro Majer's question and my answer to it. One can define a simplex, and the dihedral angles thereof in an infinite dimensional Hilbert space (one has to take ...
Igor Rivin's user avatar
  • 96.4k
4 votes
2 answers
438 views

How to show that convex polytope is not a Voronoi cell?

Given a combinatorial type of a convex polytope, what techniques are available for showing that it cannot be realized as a Voronoi cell of some point system?
Gregor Samsa's user avatar
20 votes
5 answers
1k views

From convex polytopes to toric varieties: the constructions of Davis and Januszkiewicz

One of the most useful tools in the study of convex polytopes is to move from polytopes (through their fans) to toric varieties and see how properties of the associated toric variety reflects back on ...
Gil Kalai's user avatar
  • 24.7k
3 votes
3 answers
314 views

4-polytope with vertices at the binary octahedral group

Does anybody know if there is a convex polytope in $R^4$ with vertices at the binary octahedral group (identifying $H$ with $R^4$). The binary tetrahedral group lies at the vertices of the so-called ...
Joseph Victor's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
812 views

Is it possible to sample uniformly on the surface of a high-dimensional polytope?

There are some pretty simple methods to do uniform sampling on the surface of high-dimensional spheres or cubes. Are there any methods that sample uniformly on the surface of a high-dimensional ...
Jiayuan Ma's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
591 views

Update to Shephard's "Twenty Problems on Convex Polyhedra"

Forty-three years ago, Geoffrey Shephard published an influential list of open problems on convex polyhedra. Progress has been made on several of his problems, and perhaps some have been completely ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
491 views

Minimum solid angle and aspect ratio of an $n$-simplex

In computational geometry and other fields, it is of interest to have degeneracy measures for shapes of simplices, which quantitatively seperate the regular simplex from degenerate simplices. In two ...
shuhalo's user avatar
  • 5,327
4 votes
4 answers
536 views

Vertex-transitive polytopes in any dimension with any number of vertices?

Given positive integers $d$ and $v$ with $v \geq d+1$, does there always exist a (convex) vertex-transitive $d$-polytope with $v$ vertices? It seems that the answer should be "obviously" true, but I ...
Donald's user avatar
  • 51
6 votes
2 answers
3k views

Finding the convex combination of vertices which yields an inner point of a polytope

Given a convex polytope $P\in \mathbb{R}^n$, and a point $x\in P$, Caratheodory's theorem gives us that there exists a set of at most $n+1$ vertices of $P$, such that $x$ is a convex combination of ...
Guy Adini's user avatar
  • 243
36 votes
2 answers
2k views

Bodies of constant width?

In two-dimensional case one can generalize figures of constant width as figures which can rotate in a convex polygon. Here is one example which can be used to drill triangular holes: I would like to ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
450 views

When is the conical hull of a finite set of vectors a subset of the space? (and tilings)

Consider a hypercube in n-dimensions, and take some projection down to an m-dimensional subspace. Now take all vertices and m-1 dimensional facets visible from some direction outside the projection. ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
202 views

An isoperimetric inequality for "order" polytopes

I am looking for an isoperimetric inequality for order-like polytopes. An order polytope $K\in \mathbb{R}^n$ is defined by a set of linear inequaities: $$ \forall i \; 0\leq x_i \leq 1 $$ and $ ...
Guy Adini's user avatar
  • 243
10 votes
2 answers
523 views

When does every point in a polytope lie along a chord between its edges?

Consider the 3-simplex, or tetrahedron, in 3-space. Regardless of the positions of the vertices, every point in the simplex lies on a chord between two non-adjacent edges of the simplex. Or, ...
UltraBlue06's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

About the surface area vs. volume of polytopes

Given a convex body $K\in\mathbb{R}^n$, represented by a set of linear inequalities (intersection of halfspaces), I am interested in understanding how much of its volume can be close to its perimeter (...
Guy Adini's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
5k views

Weighted area of a Voronoi cell

Let $X = \{ x_1,\dots,x_n\} $ denote a set of $n$ points in the unit square $S = [0,1]\times[0,1]$, and let $w = \{w_1,\dots,w_n\}$ denote a set of weights corresponding to the $n$ points in $X$. ...
Joord Jacobsen's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
544 views

Isometric embedding a convex cap to render its boundary planar

I would like to know if there is a polyhedral analog to this beautiful theorem of Hong: Theorem 11.0.1. Any smooth positive disk $(\bar{D},g)$ with a positive geodesic curvature along $\partial ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
752 views

Upper and Lower Bounds of the Total Surface Area of Convex Polytopes that Partition a Hypercube

Let $C$ be a hypercube in $\mathbb{R}^D$ with edge length of $L$. Let $\mathcal{P}_1,\ldots,\mathcal{P}_K$ be $K$ convex polytopes that partition $C$. Let $S_k$ be the surface area of the polytope $\...
Han Xiao's user avatar
  • 111
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Finding smallest ellipsoid that circumscribes over intersection of two ellipsoids that do not have common center

Does this already exist in literature? The closest Ive been able to find is circumscribe intersection of two ellipsoids with a common center by W. Kahan (http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/Ellipint....
I J's user avatar
  • 263
2 votes
1 answer
367 views

Angle between Coordinate Vector and Normal Vector of Facet in a Convex Polytope, Asking for a Counterexample

Definitions Let $\mathcal{C}$ be a convex polytope in $\mathbb{R}^{D}$ with $K$-facets $F_{1},\ldots,F_{K}$. I denote the normal vector of the $k^\mathrm{th}$ facet as $\mathbf{w}\_k=(w_{k1},\ldots,...
Han Xiao's user avatar
  • 111
7 votes
3 answers
866 views

Not quite regular polyhedra

Take a naive interpretation of regular polyhedra: All vertices (including epsilon ball) congruent All edges congruent All faces congruent We can now find interesting families by removing one ...
Edmund Harriss's user avatar