Related papers: Picture-Hanging Puzzles
Abduction is a fundamental and important form of non-monotonic reasoning. Given a knowledge base explaining how the world behaves it aims at finding an explanation for some observed manifestation. In this paper we focus on propositional…
We prove that deciding if a diagram of the unknot can be untangled using at most $k$ Riedemeister moves (where $k$ is part of the input) is NP-hard. We also prove that several natural questions regarding links in the $3$-sphere are NP-hard,…
Using a simplistic model of juggling based on physics, a natural map is constructed from the set of periodic juggling patterns (or site swaps) to links. We then show that all topological links can be juggled.
We extend the well-known Shannon decomposition of Boolean functions to more general classes of functions. Such decompositions, which we call pivotal decompositions, express the fact that every unary section of a function only depends upon…
Classical knot theory deals with {\em diagrams} and {\em invariants}. By means of horizontal {\em trisecants}, we construct a new theory of classical braids with invariants valued in {\em pictures}. These pictures are closely related to…
The analysis of several algorithms and data structures can be framed as a peeling process on a random hypergraph: vertices with degree less than k and their adjacent edges are removed until no vertices of degree less than k are left. Often…
String art is an arrangement of pegs on a board with thread strung between these pegs to form beautiful geometric patterns. In this article, we consider a simple form of string art where pegs are placed on two diverging axes, and segments…
We take a close look at a classical magic trick performed with a string, where a trivial knot is seemingly isotoped into a trefoil, and generalize it to a family of magic tricks for transforming the unknot into other knots. We encode such a…
The probability of a random polygon (or a ring polymer) having a knot type $K$ should depend on the complexity of the knot $K$. Through computer simulation using knot invariants, we show that the knotting probability decreases exponentially…
Photo composition is an important factor affecting the aesthetics in photography. However, it is a highly challenging task to model the aesthetic properties of good compositions due to the lack of globally applicable rules to the wide…
We are going to show that some variants of a puzzle called Pull in which the boxes have handles (i.e. we can only pull the boxes in certain directions) are NP-hard
The Planar Contraction problem is to test whether a given graph can be made planar by using at most k edge contractions. This problem is known to be NP-complete. We show that it is fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by k.
We introduce a computational origami problem which we call the segment folding problem: given a set of $n$ line-segments in the plane the aim is to make creases along all segments in the minimum number of folding steps. Note that a folding…
We construct a version of kneading theory for families of monotonous functions on the real line. The generality of the setup covers two classical results from Milnor-Thurston's kneading theory: the first one is to dynamically characterise…
All children enjoy inflating balloons and twisting them into different shapes and animals. Snapping the balloon into two separate compartments is a necessary step that bears resemblance to the pinch-off phenomenon for water droplet detached…
We explore the following problem: given a collection of creases on a piece of paper, each assigned a folding direction of mountain or valley, is there a flat folding by a sequence of simple folds? There are several models of simple folds;…
Inspired by artistic practices such as beadwork and himmeli, we study the problem of threading a single string through a set of tubes, so that pulling the string forms a desired graph. More precisely, given a connected graph (where edges…
In mathematics, a knot is a single strand of string crossed over itself any number of times, and connected at the ends. The Reidemeister Moves have been proven to be the three core moves necessary to fully untangle a knot. Some knots can be…
This is a collection of open problems in geometry that I think of as puzzles: they stick to my brain -- I see many grips, but no spare hands. Puzzle-charm is the only criterion for including a problem here; importance is ignored.
Given a graph G and an integer k, the objective of the $\Pi$-Contraction problem is to check whether there exists at most k edges in G such that contracting them in G results in a graph satisfying the property $\Pi$. We investigate the…