Related papers: A note on the pyjama problem
The minimal spherical cap dispersion ${\rm disp}_{\mathcal{C}}(n,d)$ is the largest number $\varepsilon\in (0,1]$ such that, for every $n$ points on the $d$-dimensional Euclidean unit sphere $\mathbb{S}^d$, there exists a spherical cap with…
Lebesgue's universal covering problem is re-examined using computational methods. This leads to conjectures about the nature of the solution which if correct could provide a blueprint for a complete solution. Empirical lower bounds for the…
A $(v,k,\lambda)$-covering is a pair $(V, \mathcal{B})$, where $V$ is a $v$-set of points and $\mathcal{B}$ is a collection of $k$-subsets of $V$ (called blocks), such that every unordered pair of points in $V$ is contained in at least…
We show NP-completeness for several planar variants of the monotone satisfiability problem with bounded variable appearances. With one exception the presented variants have an associated bipartite graph where the vertex degree is bounded by…
A partial cube is a graph having an isometric embedding in a hypercube. Partial cubes are characterized by a natural equivalence relation on the edges, whose classes are called zones. The number of zones determines the minimal dimension of…
We review a certain problem on covering triangles in the plane. Equivalently, it can be viewed as a family of 'isobilliard' inequalities in convex shapes, and as a special case of Viterbo's conjecture in symplectic geometry. We give an…
This paper views the honeycomb conjecture and the Kepler problem essentially as extreme value problems and solves them by partitioning 2-space and 3-space into building blocks and determining those blocks that have the universal extreme…
In this paper we discuss various special problems on packing and covering. Among others we survey the problems and results concerning finite arrangements, Minkowskian, saturated, compact, and totally separable packings. We discuss shortest…
Strip packing is a classical packing problem, where the goal is to pack a set of rectangular objects into a strip of a given width, while minimizing the total height of the packing. The problem has multiple applications, e.g. in scheduling…
In this work we consider the problem of finding the minimum-weight loop cover of an undirected graph. This combinatorial optimization problem is called 2-matching and can be seen as a relaxation of the traveling salesman problem since one…
We prove the #P-hardness of the counting problems associated with various satisfiability, graph and combinatorial problems, when restricted to planar instances. These problems include \begin{romannum} \item[{}] {\sc 3Sat, 1-3Sat, 1-Ex3Sat,…
Given a set of points in the plane, a covering path is a polygonal path that visits all the points. In this paper we consider covering paths of the vertices of an n x m grid. We show that the minimal number of segments of such a path is…
We study approximability of subdense instances of various covering problems on graphs, defined as instances in which the minimum or average degree is Omega(n/psi(n)) for some function psi(n)=omega(1) of the instance size. We design new…
Inspired by a planar partitioning problem involving multiple improper chambers, this article investigates using classical techniques what can be said of the existence, uniqueness, and regularity of minimizers in a certain free-endpoint…
Given $n$ points in the plane, a \emph{covering path} is a polygonal path that visits all the points. If no three points are collinear, every covering path requires at least $n/2$ segments, and $n-1$ straight line segments obviously suffice…
We study the slices or sections of a convex polytope by affine hyperplanes. We present results on two key problems: First, we provide tight bounds on the maximum number of vertices attainable by a hyperplane slice of $d$-polytope (a sort of…
A self-avoiding plane-filling curve cannot be periodic, but we show that it can satisfy the local isomorphism property. We investigate three families of coverings of the plane by finite sets of nonoverlapping self-avoiding curves which…
We study the problem of conformal deformation of Riemannian structure to constant scalar curvature with zero mean curvature on the boundary. We prove compactness for the full set of solutions when the boundary is umbilic and the dimension…
We study a one-dimensional ordinary differential equation modelling optical conveyor belts, showing in particular cases of physical interest that periodic solutions exist. Moreover, under rather general assumptions it is proved that the set…
Suppose that each proper subset of a set $S$ of points in a vector space is contained in the union of planes of specified dimensions, but $S$ itself is not contained in any such union. How large can $|S|$ be? We prove a general upper bound…