Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
5 votes
2 answers
441 views

Touching-tetrahedra graphs

Have the graphs representable by touching tetrahedra been explored? Let $\cal T$ be a collection of tetrahedra in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with pairwise disjoint interiors. Define a graph $G_{\cal T}$ to have ...
3 votes
1 answer
159 views

Work on "Churning Polygons"

Background of this question is that I recently stumbled over the problem of deforming polygons in area-preserving way, i.e. modifying the angles between adjacent edges while preserving edge-lengths, ...
5 votes
1 answer
245 views

What is Known About the Complexity of Calculating Minimal Surface Polyhedra?

I am currently ruminating about ways of generalizing Minimum Spanning Trees to Minimum Spanning "Hypertrees", where the cost is associated with simplex volumes and, where certain topological ...
3 votes
3 answers
330 views

Voronoi and Delaunay

Please provide some references on Voronoi and Delaunay decompositions which is mathematically written. I mean I can find several texts or links on this written for computer science students without ...
4 votes
2 answers
506 views

Empty lattice simplex or White's theorem

White has proved (White, G. K. Lattice tetrahedra -- Canad. J. Math. 16 1964 389–396.) the following theorem: If $T$ is a closed tetrahedron and $\Lambda$ is a lattice which contains the vertices of $...
7 votes
1 answer
938 views

Which knots' stick numbers are twice their crossing numbers?

Looking at a table of minimum stick numbers for knots (table here), it seems the known upper bound of $2 c(K)$ in terms of the knot crossing number $c(K)$ is realized by the trefoil $3_1$—it ...
13 votes
1 answer
430 views

Detecting a hidden convex body with line probes

Imagine that, somewhere inside an origin-centered, unit-radius sphere $S$ in $\mathbb{R}^3$, sits a convex body $K$ of volume vol$(K)=\alpha (\frac{4}{3} \pi)$, with $\alpha < 1$ the fraction of ...
6 votes
2 answers
381 views

Lattice-cube minimal blocking sets

Let $C_d(n)$ be the lattice cube consisting of the $n^d$ points with each of its $d$ coorindates in $\lbrace 1,2,\ldots,n \rbrace$. Define a blocking set for a lattice cube to be a set of points in ...
4 votes
0 answers
213 views

Counting the polytopes of the translates of the resonance hyperplane arrangement inside the unit hypercube

Let $n$ be a positive natural number. For all $\emptyset \subset S \subseteq \{1, \ldots, n\}$ and $k \in \mathbb{Z}$, define the hyperplane $H(S,k)$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$ given by the equations $$H(S,k):=...
17 votes
3 answers
2k views

Applications of Kirchhoff's circuit laws to graph theory

Is there a good survey on applications of Kirchhoff's circuit laws to graph theory or/and discrete geometry? Examples: Matrix tree theorem, Squaring the square, Electrician’s proof of Euler’s ...
11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Combinatorial distance between simplicial complexes

Let $K_1$ and $K_2$ be two simplicial complexes. I am seeking a measure of the distance between $K_1$ and $K_2$ when viewed as combinatorial objects. What I have in mind is something like this. ...
11 votes
3 answers
665 views

Limit shape for fixed-perimeter lattice polygons

Let $P$ be a simple polygon defined by $n$ unit-length segments connecting lattice points of $\mathbb{Z}^2$. I have two operations that preserve the perimeter of $P$. The first is the "pop" of a ...
3 votes
1 answer
292 views

Existence of Simple Closed Straightest Geodesics

There are at least three distinct simple closed quasigeodesics on convex polyhedra [Mat. Sb. (N.S.), 1949, 25(67) :2, 275–306 Quasi-geodesic lines on a convex surface Pogorelov]. Is the same true ...
10 votes
2 answers
930 views

What is determined by the combinatorics of the shadows of a convex polyhedron?

Define the shadow of a convex polyhedron $P$ in direction $u$ to be the orthogonal projection of $P$ onto a plane whose normal is $u$. The shadow is a convex $k$-gon. I am wondering to what degree $P$ ...
6 votes
1 answer
276 views

Matching on sphere to create cycle with chords

Imagine a number of chords of a sphere $S$ which nearly, but not quite, pass through the center of $S$, in such a way that no pair of chords intersect:       I would like to ...
2 votes
2 answers
676 views

Midpoint lattice polygons

Midpoint polygons (a.k.a Kasner polygons) have been studied, and their behavior is well understood. I am considering a variant, which I call midpoint lattice polygons. Start with a sequence of ...
10 votes
0 answers
1k views

Interpolating points with minimum curvature constraint

I have $n$ points $p_i$ strictly interior to a rectangle $R$, and I would like to connect them with a curve $C$ whose curvature is as low as possible. Let $\kappa_\max(C)$ be the sharpest (largest ...
5 votes
1 answer
265 views

Maximal number of triple intersection points of $n$ circles

It is easy to show that $n$ (mutually different) circles on the plane can have maximum $n(n-1)$ intersection points. In our optimal graph drawing research we have encountered a counterpart of this ...
24 votes
1 answer
2k views

Building a genus-$n$ torus from cubes

I wonder if this has been studied: What is the fewest number of unit cubes from which one can build an $n$-toroid? The cubes must be glued face-to-face, and the boundary of the resulting object ...
52 votes
5 answers
2k views

Tetris-like falling sticky disks

Suppose unit-radius disks fall vertically from $y=+\infty$, one by one, and create a random jumble of disks above the $x$-axis. When a falling disk hits another, it stops and sticks there. Otherwise, ...
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Random polycube shapes

I am wondering if it is hopeless to obtain any firm results on the following model of a "random polycube shape." First, a polycube in $\mathbb{R}^3$ is a connected face-to-face gluing of unit cubes. (...
7 votes
0 answers
187 views

distance distributions on a hypersphere?

Fix a real number $0\leq t\leq 1$ and an integer $n>1$. Let $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ denote the unit hypersphere. Define $$d_N(n;t):=\max\sum_{i<j}\Vert P_i-P_j\Vert_2^t$$ where ...
6 votes
0 answers
118 views

Convex hull of all-ones principal submatrices

For a subset $S$ of $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, let $\mathbf{1}_S\in\{0,1\}^n$ denote the indicator vector of $S$, with a $1$ on the $i$th coordinate iff $i\in S$. Let $\mathcal{X}$ denote the convex-hull of ...
6 votes
2 answers
424 views

A class of tilings with amazing visual qualities

For more examples please see my related question on MSE: Interesting tiling with a lot of symmetrical shapes This is achieved by rotation of square grid over itself by atan(3/4). Resulting ...
4 votes
0 answers
164 views

Two variants of the Littlewood-Offord theorem

I found two different looking things being called the Littlewood-Offord theorem, If $\vec{a} \in \mathbb{R}^k \setminus 0$ and $t \in \mathbb{R}$ then there are $O(\frac{2^k}{\sqrt{k}})$ points $x \...
4 votes
1 answer
365 views

Orchard-planting problem in space

The original orchard-planting problem asks for the maximum number of $3$-point lines attainable by a configuration of points in the plane. I am interested in its natural generalization for (three-...
1 vote
0 answers
71 views

Name for a Specific Planar Linear Transformation

Is there a name for linear transformations of the plane, that make $4$ points in general convex configuration co-circular, with the biggest circle through those points and, how can they be determined ...
2 votes
1 answer
242 views

Smallest angle among two lines in an n × n grid

Does anybody have a reference answering the following (at least for me surprisingly non trivial) question? Given an $n \times n$ integer grid, what is the minimum angle between any two distinct lines,...
4 votes
2 answers
207 views

Classification of symmetries of tilings in surfaces?

Is there a general study of the symmetries of tilings on surfaces? Conway, Goodman-Strauss & Burgiel classified them on $\mathbb S^2, \mathbb R^2$ and $\mathbb H^2$, with their 'Magic Theorem'. ...
4 votes
0 answers
143 views

Balanced partitions of vector sets

We are interested in the following Lemma. Let $V\subset [0,1]^n\subset\mathbb R^n$ be a set of $n$-dimensional vectors. Then for each $r\le |V|$ there exists a partition $$V=V_1\cup V_2\cup\dots \cup ...
5 votes
2 answers
342 views

Minimum length of a convex lattice polygon containing k lattice points?

Let $f(k)$ denote the minimum length of a convex lattice polygon containing exactly $k$ lattice points (including lattice points on the boundary). It is not too hard to show that $k = \frac{1}{4\pi} ...
1 vote
0 answers
39 views

Homology of the subcomplexes of the "diamond shaped" sphere under 1-norm in $R^n$ as a simplicial complex

The 1-norm on $\mathbb{R}^n$ is defined by $\|v\| = |v_1| + |v_2| + \cdots + |v_n|$ for a vector $v = (v_1, \ldots, v_n) \in \mathbb R^n$. The unit sphere $S^{n-1}_1$ under the 1-norm is a simplicial ...
4 votes
0 answers
158 views

Reference for the notion of polyhedra "degenerations"

Let $P$ be a convex polyhedron and let $P(t)$ be a continuous deformation thereof, such that: a) $P(0)=P$; b) for all $t\in[0;1)$ the polyhedron $P(t)$ is strongly combinatorially equivalent to $P$ (...
1 vote
0 answers
77 views

Non-adjacent Pair of Edges with Minimal Weight Sum

Given an weighted, undirected Graph $G(V,E)$ without loops or parallel edges, what is the complexity of determining a pair of non-adjacent edges, whose sum of weights is w.l.o.g. minimal? is that ...
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Fold-and-cut problem in three dimensions

The fold-and-cut theory states that "Any shape with straight sides can be cut from a single (idealized) sheet of paper by folding it flat and making a single straight complete cut. Such shapes include ...
5 votes
1 answer
161 views

Upperbounding the number of regions induced by a set of unit disks

Given a set $D$ of $n$ same radius disks, embedded in the plane, their arrangement induces a number $k$ of connected regions in $\mathbb{R}^2 \setminus \cup_{d \in D}$ . I am interested in an upper ...
3 votes
1 answer
191 views

Maximal $\pi/2$-separated subset of the sphere

A subset $A$ of a metric space is called $\varepsilon$-separated if $$dist(x,y)> \varepsilon \mbox{ for all } x\ne y\in A.$$ (Notice that the inequality in my definition is strict.) What is the ...
13 votes
1 answer
933 views

Drawings of complete graphs with $Z(n)$ crossings

Hill conjectured that the minimum number of crossings in a drawing of the complete graph $K_n$ in the plane is exactly $$Z(n) = \frac{1}{4} \bigg\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\bigg\rfloor \left\lfloor\frac{n-1}{...
7 votes
1 answer
216 views

How to prove the existence of the polytope in $\mathbb{R}^d$ with a given number of faces, minimizing the isoperimetric ratio?

This is the isoperimetric type question. We know that in $\mathbb{R}^d$, balls are the sets that minimize the isoperimetric ratio $\frac{S^{d}}{V^{d-1}}$, where $S$ is the surface area and $V$ is the ...
3 votes
2 answers
261 views

Examples of toric threefolds

I am looking for examples of smooth projective toric threefolds $\mathbb P_\Delta$ such that the rational polytope $\Delta$ has only pentagonal faces and hexagonal faces. I quickly searched for ...
3 votes
0 answers
169 views

Computing Voronoi poles in $\mathbb{R}^d$ (the farthest points within each cell)

Say I have a Voronoi diagram of some points $p_1,\dots,p_n\in\mathbb{R}^d$, which tesselates $\mathbb{R}^d$ into cells $V_1,\dots,V_n$. Within each cell $V_i$, the pole is defined as the vertex of $...
6 votes
2 answers
400 views

Geometric dominating set: NP-complete?

Let $G=(V,E)$ be a geometric graph, a graph embedded in the plane whose edge lengths are the Euclidean distance between its endpoint vertices. Say that a set of vertices $D \subseteq V$ is a geometric ...
1 vote
0 answers
70 views

Covering number of the range of a function

I have come across the need to know a bound on a certain curious quantity: the covering number of the range of a continuous function $f: D \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n$, where $D \subseteq \mathbb{R}^m$. ...
8 votes
4 answers
530 views

Inside-out polygonal dissections

A dissection of a polygon $P$ is a partition of $P$ into a finite number of pieces, which can then be rearranged (via planar translations and rotations) and joined (without overlap) to form a new ...
3 votes
0 answers
391 views

Dissection of a polygon into convex polygons

Problem: for a fixed integer $m\geqslant 3$ find all $n$ such that no $n$-gon can be dissected into convex $m$-gons. I would be very grateful for any information on this problem. Remark 1. There ...
5 votes
1 answer
398 views

Ham sandwich theorem for discrete measures - reference request

A discrete version of the ham sandwich theorem states as follows (see for instance "Common Hyperplane Medians for Random Vectors" - Hill): For every $\mu_1,...,\mu_n$ discrete (i.e., purely atomic) ...
21 votes
5 answers
5k views

What arrangement of unit cubes minimizes surface area?

For each of these two questions, one can assume that the arrangements are polycubes (for which a definition can be found in the excerpt-image below). Question A. How does one arrange $n$ unit cubes ...
1 vote
0 answers
61 views

Generalizing Concepts of Planar Euclidean Geometry to Symmetric TSP-Instances

To me it seems possible, to successfully look at symmetric TSP instances from a geometry-point of view. Examples are: the diagonals of the convex hull of a set of points in the euclidean plane; ...
6 votes
1 answer
587 views

Study of convex polytopes via commutative algebra

Let $P \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ be any convex polytope with integral vertices, and let $M$ be the additive submonoid of $\mathbb{R}^{d+1}$ which is generated by $\{ (v,1) : v \in P \cap \mathbb{Z}^d \}$. ...