Abstract
Many descriptions of algorithms in computational geometry exclude degeneracies by fiat. Practitioners are left to their own devices for dealing with degeneracies when implementing such algorithms. Since degeneracies tend to be numerous and hard to enumerate exhaustively, this is often a reason for not implementing theoretical algorithms. This paper proposes a powerful symbolic scheme for treating degeneracies. Our method is simple to use, and is applicable for a wide variety of problems in computational geometry (in particular, whenever random perturbations are applicable). Our method is deterministic but is as efficient as probabilistic schemes. Illustrations, limitations and wider issues are discussed.
Supported in part by NSF grants #DCR-84-01898 and #DCR-84-01633.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
A.V. Aho, K. Stiglitz, and J.D. Ullman. Evaluating polynomials at fixed sets of points. SIAM J. Computing, 4(4):533–539, 1975.
A. Charnes. Optimality and degeneracy in linear programming. Econometrica, 20(2):160–170, 1952.
V. Chvátal. Linear Programming. W. H. Frecman and Company, 1983.
James W. Demmel. On condition numbers and the distance to the nearest ill-posed problem. Technical Report 293, Dept. of Computer Science, Courant Institute, NYU, April, 1987.
James W. Demmel. The probability that a numerical analysis problem is difficult. Technical Report 294, Dept. of Computer Science, Courant Institute, NYU, April, 1987.
T. Dubé, B. Mishra, and C. K. Yap. Admissible orderings and bounds for Gröbner bases normal form algorithm. Report 88, NYU-Courant Robotics Lab., 1986.
H. Edelsbrunner. Edge-skeletons in arrangements with applications. Algorithmica, 1:93–110, 1986.
H. Edelsbrunner and Ernst Peter Mücke. Simulation of simplicity: a technique to cope with degenerate cases in geometric algorithms. June 1987. Manuscript.
H. Edelsbrunner and R. Waupotitsch. Computing a ham-sandwich cut in two dimensions. J. Symbolic Computation, 171–178, 1986.
Herbert Edelsbrunner. Algorithms in Combinatorial Geometry. Springer-Verlag, 1987.
D. G. Freudenstein and J. R. Kender. What is a “degenerate” view? Manuscript, June 30-July 4, 1986. Workshop on Geometric Reasoning.
D. H. Greene and F. F. Yao. Finite-resolution computational geometry. In 27th FOCS, pages 143–152, 1986.
Masao Iri. Simultaneous computation of functions, partial derivatives and estimates of rounding errors — complexity and practicality. Japan J. of Applied Math., 1(2):171–178, 1986.
Masao Iri and Koichi Kubota. Methods of fast automatic differentiation and applications. Research Memorandum RM1 87-02, Dept. of Math. Eng. and Instrumentation Physics, University of Tokyo, Japan, 1987. (extended English translation in Proceed., 7th Mathematical Programming Symp., Nagoya, Japan, November 6–7, 1986).
V. J. Milenkovic. Verifiable implementation of geometric algorithms using finite precision arithmetic. Manuscript, June 30-July 4, 1986. Workshop on Geometric Reasoning.
B. Mishra and C. K. Yap. Notes on Gröbner bases. Report 87, NYU-Courant Robotics Lab., 1986. To appear, special issue of J. of Information Sciences.
C. Ó'Dúnlaing and C.K. Yap. A ‘retraction’ method for planning the motion of a disc. J. Algorithms, 6:104–111, 1985.
Nicholas Pippenger. On the evaluation of powers and monomials. SIAM J. Computing, 9(2):230–250, 1980.
Tim Poston and Ian Stewart. Catastrophe Theory and its Applications. Pitman, 1978.
Jacob T. Schwartz and Micha Sharir. On the piano movers' problem: H. General techniques for computing topological properties of real algebraic manifolds. Advances in Appl. Math., 4:298–351, 1983.
B.L. van der Waerden. Algebra. Volume 1 & 2, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1970.
Andrew Chi-chih Yao. On the evaluation of powers. SIAM J. Computing, 5(1):100–103, 1976.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 International Federation for Information Processing
About this paper
Cite this paper
Yap, CK. (1988). Symbolic treatment of geometric degeneracies. In: Iri, M., Yajima, K. (eds) System Modelling and Optimization. Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences, vol 113. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0042803
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0042803
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19238-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-39164-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive