Coloring triangle-free rectangle overlap graphs with O(log⁡log⁡n)O(\log\log n) colors

Recently, it was proved that triangle-free intersection graphs of $n$ line segments in the plane can have chromatic number as large as $\Theta(\log\log n)$. Essentially the same construction produces $\Theta(\log\log n)$-chromatic triangle-free intersection graphs of a variety of other geometric shapes---those belonging to any class of compact arc-connected sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ closed under horizontal scaling, vertical scaling, and translation, except for axis-parallel rectangles. We show that this construction is asymptotically optimal for intersection graphs of boundaries of axis-parallel rectangles, which can be alternatively described as overlap graphs of axis-parallel rectangles. That is, we prove that triangle-free rectangle overlap graphs have chromatic number $O(\log\log n)$, improving on the previous bound of $O(\log n)$. To this end, we exploit a relationship between off-line coloring of rectangle overlap graphs and on-line coloring of interval overlap graphs. Our coloring method decomposes the graph into a bounded number of subgraphs with a tree-like structure that "encodes" strategies of the adversary in the on-line coloring problem. Then, these subgraphs are colored with $O(\log\log n)$ colors using a combination of techniques from on-line algorithms (first-fit) and data structure design (heavy-light decomposition).Comment: Minor revisio

Data structures for retrieval on integer grids

A family of data structures is presented for retrieval of the sum of values of points within a half-plane or polygon, given that the points are on integer coordinates in the plane. Fredman has shown that the problem has a lower bound of Ω(N^2/3) for intermixed updates and retrievals. Willard has shown an upper bound of O(N^2log6^4) for the case where the points are not restricted to integer coordinates.We have developed families of related data structures for retrievals of half-planes or polygons. One of the data structures permits intermixed updates and half-plane retrievals in O(N^2/3log N) time, where N is the size of the grid.We use a technique we call "Rotation" to permit a better match of a portion of the data structure to the particular problem. Rotations appear to be an effective method for trading-off storage redundancy against retrieval time for certain classes of problems

Preservice teachers’ creation of dynamic geometry sketches to understand trigonometric relationships

Dynamic geometry software can help teachers highlight mathematical relationships in ways not possible with static diagrams. However, these opportunities are mediated by teachers' abilities to construct sketches that focus users' attention on the desired variant or invariant relationships. This paper looks at two cohorts of preservice secondary mathematics teachers and their attempts to build dynamic geometry sketches that highlighted the trigonometric relationship between the angle and slope of a line on the coordinate plane. We identify common challenges in the construction of these sketches and present examples for readers to interact with that highlight these issues. Lastly, we discuss ways that mathematics teacher educators can help beginning teachers understand common pitfalls in the building of dynamic geometry sketches, which can cause sketches not to operate as intended

Rectangular Layouts and Contact Graphs

Contact graphs of isothetic rectangles unify many concepts from applications including VLSI and architectural design, computational geometry, and GIS. Minimizing the area of their corresponding {\em rectangular layouts} is a key problem. We study the area-optimization problem and show that it is NP-hard to find a minimum-area rectangular layout of a given contact graph. We present O(n)-time algorithms that construct $O(n^2)$-area rectangular layouts for general contact graphs and $O(n\log n)$-area rectangular layouts for trees. (For trees, this is an $O(\log n)$-approximation algorithm.) We also present an infinite family of graphs (rsp., trees) that require $\Omega(n^2)$ (rsp., $\Omega(n\log n)$) area. We derive these results by presenting a new characterization of graphs that admit rectangular layouts using the related concept of {\em rectangular duals}. A corollary to our results relates the class of graphs that admit rectangular layouts to {\em rectangle of influence drawings}.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, 55 references, 1 appendi

Intelligent sampling for the measurement of structured surfaces

Uniform sampling in metrology has known drawbacks such as coherent spectral aliasing and a lack of efficiency in terms of measuring time and data storage. The requirement for intelligent sampling strategies has been outlined over recent years, particularly where the measurement of structured surfaces is concerned. Most of the present research on intelligent sampling has focused on dimensional metrology using coordinate-measuring machines with little reported on the area of surface metrology. In the research reported here, potential intelligent sampling strategies for surface topography measurement of structured surfaces are investigated by using numerical simulation and experimental verification. The methods include the jittered uniform method, low-discrepancy pattern sampling and several adaptive methods which originate from computer graphics, coordinate metrology and previous research by the authors. By combining the use of advanced reconstruction methods and feature-based characterization techniques, the measurement performance of the sampling methods is studied using case studies. The advantages, stability and feasibility of these techniques for practical measurements are discussed