Let P=(p_1, p_2, ..., p_n) be a polygonal chain. The stretch factor of P is the ratio between the total length of P and the distance of its endpoints, sum_{i = 1}^{n-1} |p_i p_{i+1}|/|p_1 p_n|. For a parameter c >= 1, we call P a c-chain if |p_ip_j|+|p_jp_k| <= c|p_ip_k|, for every triple (i,j,k), 1 <= i<j<k <= n. The stretch factor is a global property: it measures how close P is to a straight line, and it involves all the vertices of P; being a c-chain, on the other hand, is a fingerprint-property: it only depends on subsets of O(1) vertices of the chain. We investigate how the c-chain property influences the stretch factor in the plane: (i) we show that for every epsilon > 0, there is a noncrossing c-chain that has stretch factor Omega(n^{1/2-epsilon}), for sufficiently large constant c=c(epsilon); (ii) on the other hand, the stretch factor of a c-chain P is O(n^{1/2}), for every constant c >= 1, regardless of whether P is crossing or noncrossing; and (iii) we give a randomized algorithm that can determine, for a polygonal chain P in R^2 with n vertices, the minimum c >= 1 for which P is a c-chain in O(n^{2.5} polylog n) expected time and O(n log n) space.
@InProceedings{chen_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.56, author = {Chen, Ke and Dumitrescu, Adrian and Mulzer, Wolfgang and T\'{o}th, Csaba D.}, title = {{On the Stretch Factor of Polygonal Chains}}, booktitle = {44th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2019)}, pages = {56:1--56:14}, series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)}, ISBN = {978-3-95977-117-7}, ISSN = {1868-8969}, year = {2019}, volume = {138}, editor = {Rossmanith, Peter and Heggernes, Pinar and Katoen, Joost-Pieter}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.56}, URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-110005}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2019.56}, annote = {Keywords: polygonal chain, vertex dilation, Koch curve, recursive construction} }
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