Cheeger constants of surfaces and isoperimetric inequalities

We show that the Cheeger constant of compact surfaces is bounded by a function of the area. We apply this to isoperimetric profiles of bounded genus non-compact surfaces, to show that if their isoperimetric profile grows faster than $\sqrt t$, then it grows at least as fast as a linear function. This generalizes a result of Gromov for simply connected surfaces. We study the isoperimetric problem in dimension 3. We show that if the filling volume function in dimension 2 is Euclidean, while in dimension 3 is sub-Euclidean and there is a $g$ such that minimizers in dimension 3 have genus at most $g$, then the filling function in dimension 3 is `almost' linear.Comment: 28 page

Complexity and Algorithms for the Discrete Fr\'echet Distance Upper Bound with Imprecise Input

We study the problem of computing the upper bound of the discrete Fr\'{e}chet distance for imprecise input, and prove that the problem is NP-hard. This solves an open problem posed in 2010 by Ahn \emph{et al}. If shortcuts are allowed, we show that the upper bound of the discrete Fr\'{e}chet distance with shortcuts for imprecise input can be computed in polynomial time and we present several efficient algorithms.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Computing optimal shortcuts for networks

We study augmenting a plane Euclidean network with a segment, called shortcut, to minimize the largest distance between any two points along the edges of the resulting network. Questions of this type have received considerable attention recently, mostly for discrete variants of the problem. We study a fully continuous setting, where all points on the network and the inserted segment must be taken into account. We present the first results on the computation of optimal shortcuts for general networks in this model, together with several results for networks that are paths, restricted to two types of shortcuts: shortcuts with a fixed orientation and simple shortcuts.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Computing Optimal Shortcuts for Networks

We study augmenting a plane Euclidean network with a segment, called shortcut, to minimize the largest distance between any two points along the edges of the resulting network. Questions of this type have received considerable attention recently, mostly for discrete variants of the problem. We study a fully continuous setting, where all points on the network and the inserted segment must be taken into account. We present the first results on the computation of optimal shortcuts for general networks in this model, together with several results for networks that are paths, restricted to two types of shortcuts: shortcuts with a fixed orientation and simple shortcuts

Computing optimal shortcuts for networks

We augment a plane Euclidean network with a segment or shortcut to minimize the largest distance between any two points along the edges of the resulting network. In this continuous setting, the problem of computing distances and placing a shortcut is much harder as all points on the network, instead of only the vertices, must be taken into account. Our main result for general networks states that it is always possible to determine in polynomial time whether the network has an optimal shortcut and compute one in case of existence. We also improve this general method for networks that are paths, restricted to using two types of shortcuts: those of any fixed direction and shortcuts that intersect the path only on its endpoints.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Improving QED-Tutrix by Automating the Generation of Proofs

The idea of assisting teachers with technological tools is not new. Mathematics in general, and geometry in particular, provide interesting challenges when developing educative softwares, both in the education and computer science aspects. QED-Tutrix is an intelligent tutor for geometry offering an interface to help high school students in the resolution of demonstration problems. It focuses on specific goals: 1) to allow the student to freely explore the problem and its figure, 2) to accept proofs elements in any order, 3) to handle a variety of proofs, which can be customized by the teacher, and 4) to be able to help the student at any step of the resolution of the problem, if the need arises. The software is also independent from the intervention of the teacher. QED-Tutrix offers an interesting approach to geometry education, but is currently crippled by the lengthiness of the process of implementing new problems, a task that must still be done manually. Therefore, one of the main focuses of the QED-Tutrix' research team is to ease the implementation of new problems, by automating the tedious step of finding all possible proofs for a given problem. This automation must follow fundamental constraints in order to create problems compatible with QED-Tutrix: 1) readability of the proofs, 2) accessibility at a high school level, and 3) possibility for the teacher to modify the parameters defining the "acceptability" of a proof. We present in this paper the result of our preliminary exploration of possible avenues for this task. Automated theorem proving in geometry is a widely studied subject, and various provers exist. However, our constraints are quite specific and some adaptation would be required to use an existing prover. We have therefore implemented a prototype of automated prover to suit our needs. The future goal is to compare performances and usability in our specific use-case between the existing provers and our implementation.Comment: In Proceedings ThEdu'17, arXiv:1803.0072