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Questions tagged [computational-geometry]

Using computers to solve geometric problems. Questions with this tag should typically have at least one other tag indicating what sort of geometry is involved, such as ag.algebraic-geometry or mg.metric-geometry.

65 votes
3 answers
4k views

Reasons to prefer one large prime over another to approximate characteristic zero

Background: In running algebraic geometry computations using software such as Macaulay2, it is often easier and faster to work over $\mathbb F_p = \mathbb Z / p\mathbb Z$ for a large prime $p$, rather ...
Charles Staats's user avatar
32 votes
4 answers
7k views

Computational software in Algebraic Topology?

I was wondering if there is any good software out there that allows you to do specific computations in algebraic topology. For example: Create a simplicial complex/set and ask questions about its ...
Joris Weimar's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
4k views

Can squares of side 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, … be packed into three quarters of a unit square?

My question is prompted by this illustration from Eugenia Cheng’s book Beyond Infinity, where it appears in reference to the Basel problem. Is it known whether the infinite set of squares of side $\...
Robin Houston's user avatar
26 votes
2 answers
4k views

Why did Robertson and Seymour call their breakthrough result a "red herring"?

One of the major results in graph theory is the graph structure theorem from Robertson and Seymour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_structure_theorem. It gives a deep and fundamental connection ...
GraphX's user avatar
  • 280
26 votes
0 answers
898 views

Where to submit this work with several unusual features?

I appreciate that questions about where to submit are generally considered off-topic, but I hope that the unusual features of the present case may make it acceptable. I have put a monograph on github ...
Neil Strickland's user avatar
21 votes
8 answers
4k views

Determine if circle is covered by some set of other circles

Suppose you have a set of circles $\mathcal{C} = \{ C_1, \ldots, C_n \}$ each with a fixed radius $r$ but varying centre coordinates. Next, you are given a new circle $C_{n+1}$ with the same radius $r$...
Adrian Schönig's user avatar
21 votes
2 answers
3k views

Missing document request

I received a request for another long-lost document: I am wondering if there is any way I might obtain a copy of The geometry of circles: Voronoi diagrams, Moebius transformations, ...
Bill Thurston's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
24k views

Partitioning a polygon into convex parts

I'm looking for an algorithm to partition any simple closed polygon into convex sub-polygons--preferably as few as possible. I know almost nothing about this subject, so I've been searching on Google ...
user14059's user avatar
  • 201
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

How to efficiently vacuum the house

Let $P$ be a polygon (perhaps with no acute angles inside) and let $L$ be a line segment. The segment may move through the area inside $P$ in straight lines, orthogonal to $L$, or it may pivot on any ...
Alejandro Erickson's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
872 views

An NP-hard $n$ fold integral

We are given rational numbers $[c_1, c_2, \ldots, c_n]$ and $v$ from the interval $[0,1]$. Consider the $n$-fold integral $$ J = \int_{\theta_1 \in I_1, \theta_2 \in I_2 \ldots, \theta_n \in I_n} d\...
Ganesh's user avatar
  • 617
17 votes
1 answer
571 views

Aperiodic monotile in $\mathbb{R}$

Motivation. Recently a group of researchers found an aperiodic monotile in $\mathbb{R}^2$, answering a long-standing question. There are many results in higher dimensions, so let's explore the lower ...
Dominic van der Zypen's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

What can be said about the Shadow hull and the Sight hull?

This is a question implicitly raised by Is the sphere the only surface all of whose projections are circles? Or: Can we deduce a spherical Earth by observing that its shadows on the Moon are always ...
Bill Thurston's user avatar
16 votes
2 answers
5k views

Weighted area of a Voronoi cell

Let $X = \{ x_1,\dots,x_n\} $ denote a set of $n$ points in the unit square $S = [0,1]\times[0,1]$, and let $w = \{w_1,\dots,w_n\}$ denote a set of weights corresponding to the $n$ points in $X$. ...
Joord Jacobsen's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
609 views

How to plot this fractal

I'm a graphic designer and my client has asked me to use this fractal in a design that I'm working on. As you can see, it's not a very good copy, so I'm trying to see if I can generate a high-...
Circle B's user avatar
  • 263
16 votes
2 answers
276 views

Finding a plane numerically

Suppose I have three large finite sets $\{x_i\}$, $\{y_i\}$ and $\{z_i\}$; they are obtained by measuring coordinates of a collection of vectors in $\mathbb{R}^3$, but I do not know which triples ...
Anton Petrunin's user avatar

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