Triangulation refinement by using edge subdivision

Abstract

It is proved that any triangulation of a flat polygonal region can be refined by using repeated subdivisions of an edge so that: (1) the maximum diameter of the triangles would be less than any pre-assigned positive number, and (2) the minimum interior angle of the triangles of the triangulation obtained would be not less than the minimum interior angle of the triangles of the original triangulation divided by 9. The required triangulation refinement is constructed in two steps: first, the triangulation is refined so that the triangles of the triangulation obtained can be combined into pairs, and only boundary triangles may be left unpaired; at this step each triangle is split into at most 4 parts. Then the triangulation obtained is refined once again in order that the diameter of each triangle be less then a prescribed ɛ. At each of the steps, the minimum interior angle of triangles is reduced by at most 3 times. This is guaranteed by the lemma saying that the interior angles of the triangles into which the original triangle is divided by a median are at least as great as one-third of the minimum interior angle of the original triangle.