Abstract. A unified and powerful approach is presented for devising polynomial approximation schemes for many strongly NP-complete problems. Such schemes consist of families of approximation algorithms for each desired performance bound on the relative error c> 0, with running time that is polynomial when c is fixed. Thougb the polynomiality of these algorithms depends on the degree of approximation e being fixed, they cannot be improved, owing to a negative result stating that there are no fully polynomial approximation schemes for strongly NP-complete problems unless NP = P. The unified technique that is introduced here, referred to as the shifting strategy, is applicable to numerous geometric covering and packing problems. The method of using the technique and how it varies with problem parameters are illustrated. A similar technique, independently devised by B. S. Baker, was shown to be applicable for covering and packing problems on planar graphs.

This is the nineteenth edition of a (usually) quarterly column that covers new developments in the theory of NP-completeness. The presentation is modeled on that used by M. R. Garey and myself in our book ‘‘Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness,’ ’ W. H. Freeman & Co., New York, 1979 (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘[G&J]’’; previous columns will be referred to by their dates). A background equivalent to that provided by [G&J] is assumed, and, when appropriate, cross-references will be given to that book and the list of problems (NP-complete and harder) presented there. Readers who have results they would like mentioned (NP-hardness, PSPACE-hardness, polynomial-time-solvability, etc.) or open problems they would like publicized, should

Motivated by applications such as document and image classification in information retrieval, we consider the problem of clustering dynamic point sets in a metric space. We propose a model called incremental clustering which is based on a careful analysis of the requirements of the information retrieval application, and which should also be useful in other applications. The goal is to efficiently maintain clusters of small diameter as new points are inserted. We analyze several natural greedy algorithms and demonstrate that they perform poorly. We propose new deterministic and randomized incremental clustering algorithms which have a provably good performance. We complement our positive results with lower bounds on the performance of incremental algorithms. Finally, we consider the dual clustering problem where the clusters are of fixed diameter, and the goal is to minimize the number of clusters. 1 Introduction We consider the following problem: as a sequence of points from a metric...

Motivated by applications in computer graphics, visualization, and scientific computation, we study the computational complexity of the following problem: Given a set S of n points sampled from a bivariate function f(x; y) and an input parameter " ? 0, compute a piecewise linear function \Sigma(x; y) of minimum complexity (that is, a xy-monotone polyhedral surface, with a minimum number of vertices, edges, or faces) such that j\Sigma(x p ; y p ) \Gamma z p j "; for all (x p ; y p ; z p ) 2 S: We prove that the decision version of this problem is NP-Hard . The main result of our paper is a polynomial-time approximation algorithm that computes a piecewise linear surface of size O(K o log K o ), where K o is the complexity of an optimal surface satisfying the constraints of the problem. The technique

We propose a new randomized algorithm for maintaining a set of clusters among moving nodes in the plane. Given a specified cluster radius, our algorithm selects and maintains a variable subset of the nodes as cluster centers. This subset has the property that (1) balls of the given radius centered at the chosen nodes cover all the others and (2) the number of centers selected is a constant-factor approximation of the minimum possible. As the nodes move, an event-based kinetic data structure updates the clustering as necessary. This kinetic data structure is shown to be responsive, efficient, local, and compact. The produced cover is also smooth, in the sense that wholesale cluster re-arrangements are avoided. The algorithm can be implemented without exact knowledge of the node positions, if each node is able to sense its distance to other nodes up to the cluster radius. Such a kinetic clustering can be used in numerous applications where mobile devices must be interconnected into an ad-hoc network to collaboratively perform some tasks. 1

We review the recent progress in the design of efficient algorithms for various problems in geometric optimization. We present several techniques used to attack these problems, such as parametric searching, geometric alternatives to parametric searching, prune-and-search techniques for linear programming and related problems, and LPtype problems and their efficient solution. We then describe a variety of applications of these and other techniques to numerous problems in geometric optimization, including facility location, proximity problems, statistical estimators and metrology, placement and intersection of polygons and polyhedra, and ray shooting and other query-type problems.

Many algorithms developed in computational geometry are needlessly complicated and slow because they have to be prepared for very complicated, hypothetical inputs. To avoid this, realistic models are needed that describe the properties that realistic inputs have, so that algorithms can de designed that take advantage of these properties. This can lead to algorithms that are provably efficient in realistic situations. We obtain some fundamental results in this research direction. In particular, we have the following results. ffl We show the relations between various models that have been proposed in the literature. ffl For several of these models, we give algorithms to compute the model parameter(s) for a given scene; these algorithms can be used to verify whether a model is appropriate for typical scenes in some application area. ffl As a case study, we give some experimental results on the appropriateness of some of the models for one particular type of scenes often encountered in ...

We present NC approximation schemes for a number of graph problems when restricted to geometric graphs including unit disk graphs and graphs drawn in a civilized manner. Our approximation schemes exhibit the same time versus performance trade-off as the best known approximation schemes for planar graphs. We also define the concept of -precision unit disk graphs and show that for such graphs the approximation schemes have a better time versus performance trade-off than the approximation schemes for arbitrary unit disk graphs. Moreover, compared to unit disk graphs, we show that for -precision unit disk graphs, many more graph problems have efficient approximation schemes. Our NC approximation schemes can also be extended to obtain efficient NC approximation schemes for several PSPACE-hard problems on unit disk graphs specified using a restricted version of the hierarchical specification language of Bentley, Ottmann and Widmayer. The approximation schemes for hierarchically specified un...

Motivated by the problem of labeling maps, we investigate the problem of computing a large non-intersecting subset in a set of n rectangles in the plane. Our results are as follows. In O(n log n) time, we can find an O(log n)-factor approximation of the maximum subset in a set of n arbitrary axis-parallel rectangles in the plane. If all rectangles have unit height, we can find a 2-approximation in O(n log n) time. Extending this result, we obtain a (1 + 1 k )-approximation in time O(n log n + n 2k\Gamma1 ) time, for any integer k 1. 1 Introduction Automated label placement is an important problem in geographic information systems (GIS), and has received considerable attention in recent years (for instance, see [6, 9]). The label placement problem includes positioning labels for area, line, and point features. The primary focus within the computational geometry community has been on labeling point features [5, 7, 17, 16]. A basic requirement in the label placement problem is that ...

A set X of points in ! d is (k; b)-clusterable if X can be partitioned into k subsets (clusters) so that the diameter (alternatively, the radius) of each cluster is at most b. We present algorithms that by sampling from a set X , distinguish between the case that X is (k; b)-clusterable and the case that X is ffl-far from being (k; b 0 )-clusterable for any given 0 ! ffl 1 and for b 0 b. In ffl-far from being (k; b 0 )-clusterable we mean that more than ffl \Delta jX j points should be removed from X so that it becomes (k; b 0 )-clusterable. We give algorithms for a variety of cost measures that use a sample of size independent of jX j, and polynomial in k and 1=ffl. Our algorithms can also be used to find approximately good clusterings. Namely, these are clusterings of all but an ffl-fraction of the points in X that have optimal (or close to optimal) cost. The benefit of our algorithms is that they construct an implicit representation of such clusterings in time independ...