Questions tagged [packing-and-covering]
The packing-and-covering tag has no usage guidance.
80 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Can 4-space be partitioned into Klein bottles?
It is known that $\mathbb{R}^3$ can be partitioned into disjoint circles,
or into disjoint unit circles, or into congruent copies of a real-analytic curve
(Is it possible to partition $\mathbb R^3$ ...
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22
votes
0
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402
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What is the covering density of a very thin annulus? Is it $\frac{\pi\sqrt{51\sqrt{17}-107}}{16}$?
Take some very small $\epsilon>0$, and consider the annulus/ring given by the set $\{(r,\theta)\ |\ 1-\epsilon\le r\le1\}\subset \mathbb{R}^2$.
We wish to place translated copies of this annulus ...
- 3,068
13
votes
0
answers
818
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Covering number estimates for Hölder balls
Let $\alpha \in (0,1]$, $r>0$ and $L>0$, and positive intwgers $n$ and $m$. The Arzela-Ascoli Theorem guarantees that the set $X(\alpha,L,r)$ of $f:[-1,1]^n\rightarrow [-r,r]^m$ with $\alpha$-...
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13
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0
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751
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$\epsilon$-nets with respect to the cut norm
The cut norm $||A||\_C$ of a real matrix $A = (a_{i,j}) \in \mathcal{R}^{n\times n}$ is the maximum over all $I \subseteq [n], J \subseteq [n]$ of the quantity $\left|\sum_{i \in I, j \in J}a_{i,j}\...
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11
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0
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216
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Electrons on a pancake ellipsoid
The problems of minimizing the potential energy of electrons
on a sphere, or maximizing the smallest distance between the electrons,
have been well-studied.
E.g., see the
earlier MO question
"...
- 151k
10
votes
0
answers
497
views
Which finite sets could be packed into a square?
This question is inspired by an interesting visualization of the finite levels of von Neumann's hierarchy on Adam P. Goucher's blog, Complex Projective 4-Space.
The problem starts with a two-...
10
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0
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493
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Rectangology and squareology
I thought that rectangles were simple, and squares even simpler. Until my research has led me to several questions about rectangles and squares, which I can't solve.
I started by posting this question ...
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9
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1
answer
442
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You have $n$ rectangles of area $1$ and variable height. Pack as many as possible in a semicircle of area $n$. How many leftovers will there be?
You have $n$ rectangles of area $1$ and variable height. Pack as many of these rectangles as possible in a semicircle of area $n$. How many leftover rectangles will there be, in terms of $n$?
How to ...
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9
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249
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Randomly placing nonoverlapping unit cuboids
Suppose one places unit cuboids of dimension $d$ with min-corners
uniformly distributed to lie in $[0,n]^d$, but with cuboid (strict) overlap forbidden.
At some point, the region is "saturated," ...
- 151k
9
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172
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Characterizing the norms on $\mathbb{R}^3$ coming from Platonic solids
Recall that any sufficiently nice compact centrally symmetric convex body in $B \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ gives rise to a Banach norm on $\mathbb{R}^3$ which has $B$ as its unit ball.
Is there a nice ...
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9
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193
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Asymptotics of packing
Define $m(n,k,l)$ as the maximal size of a family $k$-element subsets of $[n]$ having the property that the intersection of every two sets is less than $l$.
As stated on wikipedia, in 1985 Rödl ...
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149
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Do the $\ell^{\infty}$ and $\ell^1$ norms yield minimal doubling constants amongst all norms on $\mathbb{R}^n$?
Setting:
Let $X:=\mathbb{R}^n$ for some positive integer $n$. For each $1\le p\le \infty$ let $d_p$ denote the metric induced by the $\ell^p_n$ norm thereon.
Note that, the doubling constant of a ...
- 5,405
7
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44
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Inefficient covering by translates
While trying to answer this question, I arrived at another question:
How many translates of $\{0,1\}^n$ does it take to cover $\mathbb F_3^n$?
The broader context is: consider a set $S$ and a ...
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6
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0
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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 $...
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6
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199
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A polynomial counting some packings in $\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z$
Given two integers $n$ and $N$ such that $N>{n+1\choose 2}$, we denote by $\alpha_n(N)$
the number of elements $(x_1,\dots,x_n)$ in $(\mathbb Z/N\mathbb Z)^n$ such that the
$2n$ elements $x_1,x_1+1,...
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5
votes
0
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187
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Packing cylinders in a sphere: Phase transition?
Let $S$ be a unit-radius sphere in $\mathbb{R}^3$,
and $c$ a cylinder of length $L$ and radius $r<2$.
It appears to me that for $L \in [\sqrt{2},2]$
and "small" $r$,
the optimal packing ...
- 151k
5
votes
0
answers
313
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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 ...
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5
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199
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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 ...
- 1,677
4
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0
answers
66
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Show that there are infinitely many well-separated grids from a fixed set of points
I have stumbled upon a question which naturally arises when trying to bin a set of $n$ points into equispaced bins such that they are sufficiently well separated from the bin edges.
Take $n$ points $...
4
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0
answers
144
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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 ...
- 1,677
4
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0
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Covering number of smooth functions from $\mathbb{R}^d$ to $\mathbb{R}$
Let $(\mathcal{X},d)$ be a space of function $f: \mathbb{R}^d \to \mathbb{R}$ where $d=\| \cdot \|_\infty$ (i.e., $d(f)= \sup_{x\in \mathbb{R}^d} |f(x)|$ ).
Let $D_\alpha f= \frac{\partial^\alpha}{ \...
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4
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0
answers
134
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Deep Holes of the tensor product of two lattices
Let $L_0, L_1$ be Euclidean lattices (say full rank) of dimension $n_i$. Let $\lambda_1(L_i)$ denote the length of the shortest vector of $L_i$, and let $\rho(L_i)$ denote the covering radius of $L_i$:...
- 2,183
4
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0
answers
146
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Tiling squares with oblongs
An oblong is a rectangle whose width and length are consecutive integers: 1x2, 2x3, 3x4, etc. Does N exist such that it is possible to split the first N oblongs into 2 or more non-intersecting sets so ...
- 3,707
4
votes
0
answers
134
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Lower bound on $\epsilon$-covers of arbitrary manifolds
Let $M \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be a $k$-dimensional manifold embedded in $\mathbb{R}^d$. Let $\mathcal{N}(\epsilon)$ denote the size of the minimum $\epsilon$-cover $P$ of $M$, that is for every point $...
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Packing space by cones: Translates best?
Let $C$ be a right circular cone, the convex hull of a unit-radius disk
and a point directly above the disk center at height $h$.
Is the ...
- 151k
3
votes
0
answers
144
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Hemisphere containing the maximum number of points scattered on a sphere
Consider a set of points $x_1, \ldots,x_n$ on $\mathbb{S}^{k-1}$ (the unit sphere in $\mathbb{R}^k$). The goal is finding the hemisphere which contains the maximum number of $x_i$'s. Basically, we ...
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3
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0
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328
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Minimal overlap required to cover a sphere with caps is greater than expected for many caps
My question is derived from Covering the surface of a sphere with circles with least overlap on Math SE.
In the referenced question, the problem of completely covering a sphere with the smallest ...
- 2,370
3
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0
answers
171
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Covering number $C^k$-balls in $C(\mathbb{R}^n)$
Fix a positive integer $n$ and and an non-negative integer $k$. The Arzela-Ascoli theorem guarantees that for a given positive integer $k$ and a given $L>0$ the set
$$
Ball_{C^{k,1}([0,1]^n)}(0,L)
...
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3
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0
answers
97
views
Can Chang and Wang's proof of Thue’s Theorem on circular packing be extended into other dimentions?
The simplicity of Chang and Wang's proof of Thue’s Theorem (link on arxiv) on circular packing took me by surprise. Have similar ideas been found helpful in other dimensions? For example, partition ...
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3
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0
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134
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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 ...
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3
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0
answers
185
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Lattice points in a rotated product-of-balls
Fix $U$ unitary over $\mathbb{R}^{K},$ take $U_n=I_{n\times n}\otimes U$ and denote the unit ball at 0 in $\mathbb{R}^n$ as $B^n$. For $d_1,\dots,d_K>0$, fix $S_n:=U_n\left(\prod_{k=1}^K d_k B^n\...
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answers
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Maximum coverage of an orthogonal polygon using $k$ rectangles
I have an orthogonal polygon (all edges are horizontal or vertical) which is convex (no holes in any row of column of the polygon).
I would like to cover as much as possible of this orthogonal polygon ...
- 21
2
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336
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Who contributed [GT13] to "Computers and Intractability"?
This is a followup to my question How does the complexity of calculating the Permanent imply the NP completeness of directed 3-cycle cover?
Question:
who contributed problem [GT13] PARTITION INTO ...
- 13.2k
2
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0
answers
39
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Covering base sets $X$ with a subset family satisfying a "partial covering property"
Let $X$ be an $n$ element base set. Suppose I have a subset family $\mathscr{F} \subset 2^X$ satisfying the following property:
(*) For any subset $Y \subset X$, we can find an element $F \in \mathscr{...
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84
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Another variant of the Malfatti problem
We try to add to A Variant of the Malfatti Problem
As stated in the Wikipedia entry on Malfatti circles, it is an open problem to decide, given a number $n$ and any triangle, whether a greedy method ...
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184
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Sudakov's lower bound type inequality for supremum of Chi-squared random variables
Let $\varepsilon$ be $n$-dimensional standard Gaussian veector, i.e., $\varepsilon \sim N_n(0, I_n)$. Let $\mathcal{P}$ be a subset of symmetric projection matrices in $\mathbb{R}^{n \times n}$ with $|...
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292
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Covering/Bracketing number of monotone functions on $\mathbb{R}$ with uniformly bounded derivatives
I am interested in the $\| \cdot \|_{\infty}$-norm bracketing number or covering number of some collection of distribution functions on $\mathbb{R}$.
Let $\mathcal{F}$ consist of all distribution ...
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answers
233
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Covering number bound for the Sobolev space $W^{1,1}(E)$, with $E \subset \mathbb{R}^n$
Let $E \subset \mathbb{R}^n$ have finite diameter $D(E)= \sup_{x,x' \in E}\Vert x-x' \Vert_n$. Let $W^{1,1}(E)$ denote the class of functions $f$ on $E$ admitting integrable first order weak ...
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A Variant of the Malfatti Problem
See the Wikipedia entry on Malfatti circles for an introduction to Malfatti's problem.
The above page also states that for $n >3$, the question of whether a greedy method (at each step, the method ...
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2
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132
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A result of the covering number
Suppose $\mathcal{F} = \{f_x : x \in \mathbb{R}^d \}$ and each $f_x$ shares the same law $P$. If $\mathcal{F}$ is a class of uniformly bounded functions satisfying $L_r$-continuity, i.e. $\forall f \...
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Bound on covering number for overparametrized manifold
I am trying to wrap my head around the following problem:
I have $p$ real parameters $\boldsymbol{\theta} \in \Theta = [0, 2\pi)^p$ that parametrize functions $f(\boldsymbol{\theta}) \in f(\Theta)$ ...
2
votes
0
answers
553
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$\ell_\infty$-norm covering number of RKHS ball $\{f\in\mathcal{H}: \|f\|_\mathcal{H} \leq R\}$
For any $\epsilon \in (0,1)$, let $N_\infty(\epsilon, \mathcal{H}, R)$ denote the $\epsilon$-covering number of the RKHS norm ball $\{f\in\mathcal{H}: \|f\|_\mathcal{H} \leq R\}$ with respect to the $\...
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131
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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 ...
- 1,761
2
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215
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Packing net of simplex
For given $d$, we can define the simplex as follows,
$S=\{(x_1,x_2,\cdots,x_d):x_1\geq x_2\geq \cdots\geq x_d\geq 0,\sum x_i=1\}$.
We can define the distance on $S$ as $L_1$ distance.
An $\epsilon$ ...
- 1,503
2
votes
0
answers
87
views
lower bound for sum of (squared) distances under a minimum distance restriction
I am trying to solve a packing problem in discrete geometry and it would be useful to know the answer to the following problem.
Let $A_1$, $A_2$,..., $A_n$ be $n$ points in the Euclidean plane $\...
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answers
289
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Is the kissing number in $n$ dimensions always divisible by $n$? And what is the base of exponential growth of the kissing number?
And why are the kissing numbers for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 dimensions all highly composite numbers?
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votes
1
answer
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2d bin packing problem, with opportunity to optimize the size of the bin
I have been tasked with optimizing a manufacturing process. It is a non-trivial, NP hard problem. The problem is similar to the 2d bin packing problem, but we are trying to optimize the size of the ...
- 119
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0
answers
37
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Metric entropy of an ellipsoid
Let $B^d_2$ denote the unit ball of $\ell_2^d$ and let $T$ be an invertible linear map.
Consider the function
$$
H(T) := \log M(TB_2^d, B_2^d),
$$
which is the packing entropy for $TB_2^d$ by $B_2^d$....
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1
vote
0
answers
157
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Optimal covering trails for every $k$-dimensional cubic lattice $\mathbb{N}^k := \{(x_1, x_2, \dots, x_n) : x_i \in \mathbb{N} \wedge n \geq 3\}$
After a dozen years spent investigating this particular class of problems, I finally give up and I wish to ask you if any improvement is achievable from here on.
The general problem is as follows:
Let ...
- 1,451
1
vote
0
answers
137
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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 ...
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