Related papers: Rollercoasters and Caterpillars
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 give a polynomial-time constant-factor approximation algorithm for maximum independent set for (axis-aligned) rectangles in the plane. Using a polynomial-time algorithm, the best approximation factor previously known is $O(\log\log n)$.…
We introduce the Observation Route Problem ($\textsf{ORP}$) defined as follows: Given a set of $n$ pairwise disjoint compact regions in the plane, find a shortest tour (route) such that an observer walking along this tour can see (observe)…
Traditional orthogonal range problems allow queries over a static set of points, each with some value. Dynamic variants allow points to be added or removed, one at a time. To support more powerful updates, we introduce the Grid Range class…
We consider systems of "pinned balls," i.e., balls that have fixed positions and pseudo-velocities. Pseudo-velocities change according to the same rules as those for velocities of totally elastic collisions between moving balls. The times…
Let us call a sequence of numbers heapable if they can be sequentially inserted to form a binary tree with the heap property, where each insertion subsequent to the first occurs at a leaf of the tree, i.e. below a previously placed number.…
Searching for a line on the plane with $n$ unit speed robots is a classic online problem that dates back to the 50's, and for which competitive ratio upper bounds are known for every $n\geq 1$. In this work we improve the best lower bound…
A graph is outerplanar if it can be embedded in a plane such that all vertices lie on its outer face. The outerplanar Tur\'{a}n number of a given graph $H$, denoted by ${\rm ex}_{\mathcal{OP}}(n,H)$, is the maximum number of edges over all…
We consider an online version of a longest path problem in an undirected and planar graph that is motivated by a location and routing problem occurring in the board game "Turn & Taxis". Path extensions have to be selected based on only…
Palindromes are strings that read the same forward and backward. Problems of computing palindromic structures in strings have been studied for many years with a motivation of their application to biology. The longest palindrome problem is…
We consider the problem of finding an optimal piecewise linear path (polygonal line) connecting two given points with the possibility of making n turns at some points (the absolute value of each turn angle does not exceed a prescribed…
A \emph{saddlepoint} of an $n \times n$ matrix is an entry that is the maximum of its row and the minimum of its column. Saddlepoints give the \emph{value} of a two-player zero-sum game, corresponding to its pure-strategy Nash equilibria;…
A graph is rectilinear planar if it admits a planar orthogonal drawing without bends. While testing rectilinear planarity is NP-hard in general (Garg and Tamassia, 2001), it is a long-standing open problem to establish a tight upper bound…
Given a set S of n \geq d points in general position in R^d, a random hyperplane split is obtained by sampling d points uniformly at random without replacement from S and splitting based on their affine hull. A random hyperplane search tree…
A rectilinear Steiner tree for a set $P$ of points in $\mathbb{R}^2$ is a tree that connects the points in $P$ using horizontal and vertical line segments. The goal of Minimal Rectilinear Steiner Tree is to find a rectilinear Steiner tree…
A separating path system for a graph $G$ is a collection $\mathcal{P}$ of paths in $G$ such that for every two edges $e$ and $f$ in $G$, there is a path in $\mathcal{P}$ that contains $e$ but not $f$. We show that every $n$-vertex graph has…
According to a result of Arkin~\etal~(2016), given $n$ point pairs in the plane, there exists a simple polygonal cycle that separates the two points in each pair to different sides; moreover, a $O(\sqrt{n})$-factor approximation with…
A tanglegram $\cal T$ consists of two rooted binary trees with the same number of leaves, and a perfect matching between the two leaf sets. In a layout, the tanglegrams is drawn with the leaves on two parallel lines, the trees on either…
We give a new characterization of maximal repetitions (or runs) in strings based on Lyndon words. The characterization leads to a proof of what was known as the "runs" conjecture (Kolpakov \& Kucherov (FOCS '99)), which states that the…
An octilinear drawing of a planar graph is one in which each edge is drawn as a sequence of horizontal, vertical and diagonal at 45 degrees line-segments. For such drawings to be readable, special care is needed in order to keep the number…