Blocking the k-Holes of Point Sets in the Plane

Let P be a set of n points in the plane in general position. A subset H of P consisting of k elements that are the vertices of a convex polygon is called a k-hole of P, if there is no element of P in the interior of its convex hull. A set B of points in the plane blocks the k-holes of P if any k-hole of P contains at least one element of B in the interior of its convex hull. In this paper we establish upper and lower bounds on the sizes of k-hole blocking sets, with emphasis in the case k=5

K1,3K_{1,3}-covering red and blue points in the plane

We say that a finite set of red and blue points in the plane in general position can be $K_{1,3}$-covered if the set can be partitioned into subsets of size $4$, with $3$ points of one color and $1$ point of the other color, in such a way that, if at each subset the fourth point is connected by straight-line segments to the same-colored points, then the resulting set of all segments has no crossings. We consider the following problem: Given a set $R$ of $r$ red points and a set $B$ of $b$ blue points in the plane in general position, how many points of $R\cup B$ can be $K_{1,3}$-covered? and we prove the following results: (1) If $r=3g+h$ and $b=3h+g$, for some non-negative integers $g$ and $h$, then there are point sets $R\cup B$, like $\{1,3\}$-equitable sets (i.e., $r=3b$ or $b=3r$) and linearly separable sets, that can be $K_{1,3}$-covered. (2) If $r=3g+h$, $b=3h+g$ and the points in $R\cup B$ are in convex position, then at least $r+b-4$ points can be $K_{1,3}$-covered, and this bound is tight. (3) There are arbitrarily large point sets $R\cup B$ in general position, with $r=b+1$, such that at most $r+b-5$ points can be $K_{1,3}$-covered. (4) If $b\le r\le 3b$, then at least $\frac{8}{9}(r+b-8)$ points of $R\cup B$ can be $K_{1,3}$-covered. For $r>3b$, there are too many red points and at least $r-3b$ of them will remain uncovered in any $K_{1,3}$-covering. Furthermore, in all the cases we provide efficient algorithms to compute the corresponding coverings.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

On Hamiltonian alternating cycles and paths

We undertake a study on computing Hamiltonian alternating cycles and paths on bicolored point sets. This has been an intensively studied problem, not always with a solution, when the paths and cycles are also required to be plane. In this paper, we relax the constraint on the cycles and paths from being plane to being 1-plane, and deal with the same type of questions as those for the plane case, obtaining a remarkable variety of results. For point sets in general position, our main result is that it is always possible to obtain a 1-plane Hamiltonian alternating cycle. When the point set is in convex position, we prove that every Hamiltonian alternating cycle with minimum number of crossings is 1-plane, and provide O(n) and O(n2) time algorithms for computing, respectively, Hamiltonian alternating cycles and paths with minimum number of crossings.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Compatible matchings in geometric graphs

Two non-crossing geometric graphs on the same set of points are compatible if their union is also non-crossing. In this paper, we prove that every graph G that has an outerplanar embedding admits a non-crossing perfect matching compatible with G. Moreover, for non-crossing geometric trees and simple polygons, we study bounds on the minimum number of edges that a compatible non-crossing perfect matching must share with the tree or the polygon. We also give bounds on the maximal size of a compatible matching (not necessarily perfect) that is disjoint from the tree or the polygon.Postprint (published version

Situación del sistema privado de pensiones en España

Análisis del sistema privado de pensiones en España en relación a la complicada situación sistema público y comparación con otros modelos de sistema de pensiones privados europeos.<br /

Moving coins

AbstractWe consider combinatorial and computational issues that are related to the problem of moving coins from one configuration to another. Coins are defined as non-overlapping discs, and moves are defined as collision free translations, all in the Euclidean plane. We obtain combinatorial bounds on the number of moves that are necessary and/or sufficient to move coins from one configuration to another. We also consider several decision problems related to coin moving, and obtain some results regarding their computational complexity

Paired and semipaired domination in near-triangulations

A dominating set of a graph G is a subset D of vertices such that every vertex not in D is adjacent to at least one vertex in D. A dominating set D is paired if the subgraph induced by its vertices has a perfect matching, and semipaired if every vertex in D is paired with exactly one other vertex in D that is within distance 2 from it. The paired domination number, denoted by ¿pr(G), is the minimum cardinality of a paired dominating set of G, and the semipaired domination number, denoted by ¿pr2(G), is the minimum cardinality of a semipaired dominating set of G. A near-triangulation is a biconnected planar graph that admits a plane embedding such that all of its faces are triangles except possibly the outer face. We show in this paper that ¿pr(G) = 2b n 4 c for any neartriangulation G of order n = 4, and that with some exceptions, ¿pr2(G) = b 2n 5 c for any near-triangulation G of order n = 5.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Rainbow polygons for colored point sets in the plane

Given a colored point set in the plane, a perfect rainbow polygon is a simple polygon that contains exactly one point of each color, either in its interior or on its boundary. Let $\operatorname{rb-index}(S)$ denote the smallest size of a perfect rainbow polygon for a colored point set $S$, and let $\operatorname{rb-index}(k)$ be the maximum of $\operatorname{rb-index}(S)$ over all $k$-colored point sets in general position; that is, every $k$-colored point set $S$ has a perfect rainbow polygon with at most $\operatorname{rb-index}(k)$ vertices. In this paper, we determine the values of $\operatorname{rb-index}(k)$ up to $k=7$, which is the first case where $\operatorname{rb-index}(k)\neq k$, and we prove that for $k\ge 5$, $$\frac{40\lfloor (k-1)/2 \rfloor -8}{19} \leq\operatorname{rb-index}(k)\leq 10 \bigg\lfloor\frac{k}{7}\bigg\rfloor + 11.$$ Furthermore, for a $k$-colored set of $n$ points in the plane in general position, a perfect rainbow polygon with at most $10 \lfloor\frac{k}{7}\rfloor + 11$ vertices can be computed in $O(n\log n)$ time.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, to appear at Discrete Mathematic

Blocking the k-holes of point sets in the plane

Let P be a set of n points in the plane in general position. A subset H of P consisting of k elements that are the vertices of a convex polygon is called a k-hole of P, if there is no element of P in the interior of its convex hull. A set B of points in the plane blocks the k-holes of P if any k-hole of P contains at least one element of B in the interior of its convex hull. In this paper we establish upper and lower bounds on the sizes of k-hole blocking sets, with emphasis in the case k=5Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Geometric biplane graphs I: maximal graphs

We study biplane graphs drawn on a finite planar point set in general position. This is the family of geometric graphs whose vertex set is and can be decomposed into two plane graphs. We show that two maximal biplane graphs-in the sense that no edge can be added while staying biplane-may differ in the number of edges, and we provide an efficient algorithm for adding edges to a biplane graph to make it maximal. We also study extremal properties of maximal biplane graphs such as the maximum number of edges and the largest maximum connectivity over -element point sets.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft