Let P be a set of n points in Rd where each point p∈P carries a weight drawn from a commutative monoid (M,+,0). Given a d-rectangle rupd (i.e., an orthogonal rectangle in Rd) and a value Δ∈M, a range update adds Δ to the weight of every point p∈P∩rupd; given a d-rectangle rqry, a range sum query returns the total weight of the points in P∩rqry. The goal is to store P in a structure to support updates and queries with attractive performance guarantees. We describe a structure of O˜(n) space that handles an update in O˜(Tupd) time and a query in O˜(Tqry) time for arbitrary functions Tupd(n) and Tqry(n) satisfying Tupd⋅Tqry=n. The result holds for any fixed dimensionality d≥2. Our query-update tradeoff is tight up to a polylog factor subject to the OMv-conjecture.

This paper addresses a family of geometric half-plane retrieval queries of points in the plane in the presence of geometric uncertainty. The problems include exact and uncertain point sets and half-plane queries defined by an exact or uncertain line whose location uncertainties are independent or dependent and are defined by k real-valued parameters. Point coordinate uncertainties are modeled with the Linear Parametric Geometric Uncertainty Model (LPGUM), an expressive and computationally efficient worst-case, first order linear approximation of geometric uncertainty that supports parametric dependencies between point locations. We present an efficient O(k2) time and space algorithm for computing the envelope of the LPGUM line that defines the half-plane query. For an exact line and an LPGUM n points set, we present an O(log⁡nk+mk) time query and O(nk) space algorithm, where m is the number of LPGUM points on or above the half-plane line. For a LPGUM line and an exact points set, we present a O(k2+(klog⁡nlog⁡log⁡n)ε+m) time and O(n2log⁡n+kε) space approximation algorithm, where 0<ε≤1 is the desired approximation error. For a LPGUM line and an LPGUM points set, we present two O(k2+(klog⁡nklog⁡log⁡nk)ε+mk) and O(mk2+(klog⁡nklog⁡log⁡nk)ε) time query and O((nk)2log⁡nk+kε) space approximation algorithms for the independent and dependent case, respectively.

We consider ternary disc packings of the plane, i.e. the packings using discs of three different radii. Packings in which each “hole” is bounded by three pairwise tangent discs are called triangulated. There are 164 pairs (r,s), 1>r>s, allowing triangulated packings by discs of radii 1, r and s. In this paper, we enhance existing methods of dealing with maximal-density packings in order to find ternary triangulated packings which maximize the density among all the packings with the same disc radii. We showed for 16 pairs that the density is maximized by a triangulated ternary packing; for 16 other pairs, we proved the density to be maximized by a triangulated packing using only two sizes of discs; for 45 pairs, we found non-triangulated packings strictly denser than any triangulated one; finally, we classified the remaining cases where our methods are not applicable.

We study the problem of motion planning for a collection of n labeled unit disc robots in a polygonal environment. We assume that the robots have revolving areas around their start and final positions: that each start and each final is contained in a radius 2 disc lying in the free space, not necessarily concentric with the start or final position, which is free from other start or final positions. This assumption allows a weakly-monotone motion plan, in which robots move according to an ordering as follows: during the turn of a robot R in the ordering, it moves fully from its start to final position, while other robots do not leave their revolving areas. As R passes through a revolving area, a robot R′ that is inside this area may move within the revolving area to avoid a collision. Notwithstanding the existence of a motion plan, we show that minimizing the total traveled distance in this setting, specifically even when the motion plan is restricted to be weakly-monotone, is APX-hard, ruling out any polynomial-time (1+ε)-approximation algorithm. On the positive side, we present the first constant-factor approximation algorithm for computing a feasible weakly-monotone motion plan. The total distance traveled by the robots is within an O(1) factor of that of the optimal motion plan, which need not be weakly monotone. Our algorithm extends to an online setting in which the polygonal environment is fixed but the initial and final positions of robots are specified in an online manner. Finally, we observe that the overhead in the overall cost that we add while editing the paths to avoid robot-robot collision can vary significantly depending on the ordering we chose. Finding the best ordering in this respect is known to be NP-hard, and we provide a polynomial time O(log⁡nlog⁡log⁡n)-approximation algorithm for this problem.

We prove that every positively-weighted tree T can be realized as the cut locus C(x) of a point x on a convex polyhedron P, with T weights matching C(x) lengths. If T has n leaves, P has (in general) n+1 vertices. We show there are in fact a continuum of polyhedra P each realizing T for some x on P. Three main tools in the proof are properties of the star unfolding of P, Alexandrov's gluing theorem, and a cut-locus partition lemma. The construction of P from T is surprisingly simple.

Let T be a tree with n vertices in a metric space. We consider the problem of adding one shortcut edge to T to minimize the radius of the resulting graph. For the continuous version of the problem where a center may be a point in the interior of an edge of the graph we give a linear time algorithm. In the case when the center is restricted to lie on a vertex, the discrete version, we give an O(nlog⁡n) expected time algorithm. Previously linear-time algorithms were known for the special case when the input graph is a path.

We show that several classes of polyhedra are joined by a sequence of O(1) refolding steps, where each refolding step unfolds the current polyhedron (allowing cuts anywhere on the surface and allowing overlap) and folds that unfolding into exactly the next polyhedron; in other words, a polyhedron is refoldable into another polyhedron if they share a common unfolding. Specifically, assuming equal surface area, we prove that (1) any two tetramonohedra are refoldable to each other, (2) any doubly covered triangle is refoldable to a tetramonohedron, (3) any (augmented) regular prismatoid and doubly covered regular polygon is refoldable to a tetramonohedron, (4) any tetrahedron has a 3-step refolding sequence to a tetramonohedron, and (5) the regular dodecahedron has a 4-step refolding sequence to a tetramonohedron. In particular, we obtain a ≤6-step refolding sequence between any pair of Platonic solids, applying (5) for the dodecahedron and (1) and/or (2) for all other Platonic solids. As far as the authors know, this is the first result about common unfolding involving the regular dodecahedron.