Related papers: On sphere-filling ropes
We show that deciding whether a given set of circles can be packed into a rectangle, an equilateral triangle, or a unit square are NP-hard problems, settling the complexity of these natural packing problems. On the positive side, we show…
We consider the relations between different measures of complexity for free homotopy classes of curves on a surface $\Sigma$, including the minimum number of self-intersections, the minimum length of the words representing them in a…
The tilings of the 2-dimensional sphere by congruent triangles have been extensively studied, and the edge-to-edge tilings have been completely classified. However, not much is known about the tilings by other congruent polygons. In this…
Some ball-quotient orbifolds are related by covering maps. We exploit these coverings to find infinite towers of orbifolds uniformized by the complex 2-ball and some orbifolds over K3 surfaces uniformized by the 2-ball. Corresponding…
Various forms of sorting problems have been studied over the years. Recently, two kinds of sorting puzzle apps are popularized. In these puzzles, we are given a set of bins filled with colored units, balls or water, and some empty bins.…
Various packing problems and simulations of hard and soft interacting particles, such as microscopic models of nematic liquid crystals, reduce to calculations of intersections and pair interactions between ellipsoids. When constrained to a…
We have studied the packing of congruent disks on a spherical cap, for caps of different size and number of disks, $N$. This problem has been considered before only in the limit cases of circle packing inside a circle and on a sphere…
By rectangle packing we mean putting a set of rectangles into an enclosing rectangle, without any overlapping. We begin with perfect rectangle packing problems, then prove two continuity properties for parallel rectangle packing problems,…
The ropelength of a knot is the minimum length required to tie it. Computational upper bounds have previously been computed for every prime knot with up to 11 crossings. Here, we present ropelength measurements for the 2176 knots with 12…
This paper deals with the problem of circle packing, in which the largest radii circle is to be fit in a confined space filled with arbitrary circles of different radii and centers. A circle packing problem is one of a variety of cutting…
The covering number of an associative ring $R$ is the minimal number of proper subrings whose union is $R$. We establish a strategy to classify unital rings of a given finite covering number, and obtain a classification of unital rings…
Numerical simulations indicate that there exist conformations of the unknot, tied on a finite piece of rope, entangled in such a manner, that they cannot be disentangled to the torus conformation without cutting the rope. The simplest…
A ribbon is a first-order thickening of a non-singular curve. Motivated by a question of Eisenbud and Green, we show that a compactification of the moduli space of line bundles on a ribbon is given by the moduli space of semi-stable…
The determination of the conductivity of a deterministic or stochastic classical system coupled to reservoirs at its ends can in general be mapped onto the problem of computing the stiffness (the `energy' cost of twisting the boundaries) of…
The dynamic impedance of a sphere oscillating in an elastic medium is considered. Oestreicher's formula for the impedance of a sphere bonded to the surrounding medium can be expressed simply in terms of three lumped impedances associated…
We consider the problem of finding curves of minimum pointwise-maximum curvature, i.e., curves of minimax curvature, among planar curves of fixed length with prescribed endpoints and tangents at the endpoints. We reformulate the problem in…
Understanding how particles are arranged on the sphere is not only central to numerous physical, biological, and materials systems but also finds applications in mathematics and in analysis of geophysical and meteorological measurements. In…
Let $p$ be a branched covering of a Riemann surface to the Riemann sphere $\mathbb{P}^1$, with branching set $B \subset \mathbb{P}^1$. We define the complexity of $p$ as infinity, if $\mathbb{P}^1 \setminus B$ does not admit a hyperbolic…
We study simple, knotted and linked torus windings that are made of tubes of finite thickness. Knots which have the shortest rope length are often denoted ideal structures. Conventionally, the ideal structure are found by rope shortening…
We present filling as a type of spatial subdivision problem similar to covering and packing. Filling addresses the optimal placement of overlapping objects lying entirely inside an arbitrary shape so as to cover the most interior volume. In…