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Documents authored by Schnider, Patrick

Document
Track A: Algorithms, Complexity and Games
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.32
Two Choices Are Enough for P-LCPs, USOs, and Colorful Tangents

Authors: Michaela Borzechowski, John Fearnley, Spencer Gordon, Rahul Savani, Patrick Schnider, and Simon Weber

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 297, 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)

Abstract
We provide polynomial-time reductions between three search problems from three distinct areas: the P-matrix linear complementarity problem (P-LCP), finding the sink of a unique sink orientation (USO), and a variant of the α-Ham Sandwich problem. For all three settings, we show that "two choices are enough", meaning that the general non-binary version of the problem can be reduced in polynomial time to the binary version. This specifically means that generalized P-LCPs are equivalent to P-LCPs, and grid USOs are equivalent to cube USOs. These results are obtained by showing that both the P-LCP and our α-Ham Sandwich variant are equivalent to a new problem we introduce, P-Lin-Bellman. This problem can be seen as a new tool for formulating problems as P-LCPs.
Cite as

Michaela Borzechowski, John Fearnley, Spencer Gordon, Rahul Savani, Patrick Schnider, and Simon Weber. Two Choices Are Enough for P-LCPs, USOs, and Colorful Tangents. In 51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 297, pp. 32:1-32:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{borzechowski_et_al:LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.32,
  author =	{Borzechowski, Michaela and Fearnley, John and Gordon, Spencer and Savani, Rahul and Schnider, Patrick and Weber, Simon},
  title =	{{Two Choices Are Enough for P-LCPs, USOs, and Colorful Tangents}},
  booktitle =	{51st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2024)},
  pages =	{32:1--32:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-322-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{297},
  editor =	{Bringmann, Karl and Grohe, Martin and Puppis, Gabriele and Svensson, Ola},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.32},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-201751},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ICALP.2024.32},
  annote =	{Keywords: P-LCP, Unique Sink Orientation, \alpha-Ham Sandwich, search complexity, TFNP, UEOPL}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.77
A Topological Version of Schaefer’s Dichotomy Theorem

Authors: Patrick Schnider and Simon Weber

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 293, 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)

Abstract
Schaefer’s dichotomy theorem states that a Boolean constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is polynomial-time solvable if one of four given conditions holds for every type of constraint allowed in its instances. Otherwise, it is NP-complete. In this paper, we analyze Boolean CSPs in terms of their topological complexity, instead of their computational complexity. Motivated by complexity and topological universality results in computational geometry, we attach a natural topological space to the set of solutions of a Boolean CSP and introduce the notion of projection-universality. We prove that a Boolean CSP is projection-universal if and only if it is categorized as NP-complete by Schaefer’s dichotomy theorem, showing that the dichotomy translates exactly from computational to topological complexity. We show a similar dichotomy for SAT variants and homotopy-universality.
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Patrick Schnider and Simon Weber. A Topological Version of Schaefer’s Dichotomy Theorem. In 40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 293, pp. 77:1-77:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2024)

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@InProceedings{schnider_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.77,
  author =	{Schnider, Patrick and Weber, Simon},
  title =	{{A Topological Version of Schaefer’s Dichotomy Theorem}},
  booktitle =	{40th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2024)},
  pages =	{77:1--77:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-316-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2024},
  volume =	{293},
  editor =	{Mulzer, Wolfgang and Phillips, Jeff M.},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.77},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-200220},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2024.77},
  annote =	{Keywords: Computational topology, Boolean CSP, satisfiability, computational complexity, solution space, homotopy universality, homological connectivity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2023.15
An FPT Algorithm for Splitting a Necklace Among Two Thieves

Authors: Michaela Borzechowski, Patrick Schnider, and Simon Weber

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 283, 34th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2023)

Abstract
It is well-known that the 2-Thief-Necklace-Splitting problem reduces to the discrete Ham Sandwich problem. In fact, this reduction was crucial in the proof of the PPA-completeness of the Ham Sandwich problem [Filos-Ratsikas and Goldberg, STOC'19]. Recently, a variant of the Ham Sandwich problem called α-Ham Sandwich has been studied, in which the point sets are guaranteed to be well-separated [Steiger and Zhao, DCG'10]. The complexity of this search problem remains unknown, but it is known to lie in the complexity class UEOPL [Chiu, Choudhary and Mulzer, ICALP'20]. We define the analogue of this well-separation condition in the necklace splitting problem - a necklace is n-separable, if every subset A of the n types of jewels can be separated from the types [n]⧵A by at most n separator points. Since this version of necklace splitting reduces to α-Ham Sandwich in a solution-preserving way it follows that instances of this version always have unique solutions. We furthermore provide two FPT algorithms: The first FPT algorithm solves 2-Thief-Necklace-Splitting on (n-1+𝓁)-separable necklaces with n types of jewels and m total jewels in time 2^O(𝓁log𝓁) + O(m²). In particular, this shows that 2-Thief-Necklace-Splitting is polynomial-time solvable on n-separable necklaces. Thus, attempts to show hardness of α-Ham Sandwich through reduction from the 2-Thief-Necklace-Splitting problem cannot work. The second FPT algorithm tests (n-1+𝓁)-separability of a given necklace with n types of jewels in time 2^O(𝓁²) ⋅ n⁴. In particular, n-separability can thus be tested in polynomial time, even though testing well-separation of point sets is co-NP-complete [Bergold et al., SWAT'22].
Cite as

Michaela Borzechowski, Patrick Schnider, and Simon Weber. An FPT Algorithm for Splitting a Necklace Among Two Thieves. In 34th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 283, pp. 15:1-15:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{borzechowski_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2023.15,
  author =	{Borzechowski, Michaela and Schnider, Patrick and Weber, Simon},
  title =	{{An FPT Algorithm for Splitting a Necklace Among Two Thieves}},
  booktitle =	{34th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2023)},
  pages =	{15:1--15:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-289-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{283},
  editor =	{Iwata, Satoru and Kakimura, Naonori},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2023.15},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-193178},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2023.15},
  annote =	{Keywords: Necklace splitting, n-separability, well-separation, ham sandwich, FPT}
}
Document
RANDOM
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.30
On Connectivity in Random Graph Models with Limited Dependencies

Authors: Johannes Lengler, Anders Martinsson, Kalina Petrova, Patrick Schnider, Raphael Steiner, Simon Weber, and Emo Welzl

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 275, Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023)

Abstract
For any positive edge density p, a random graph in the Erdős-Rényi G_{n,p} model is connected with non-zero probability, since all edges are mutually independent. We consider random graph models in which edges that do not share endpoints are independent while incident edges may be dependent and ask: what is the minimum probability ρ(n), such that for any distribution 𝒢 (in this model) on graphs with n vertices in which each potential edge has a marginal probability of being present at least ρ(n), a graph drawn from 𝒢 is connected with non-zero probability? As it turns out, the condition "edges that do not share endpoints are independent" needs to be clarified and the answer to the question above is sensitive to the specification. In fact, we formalize this intuitive description into a strict hierarchy of five independence conditions, which we show to have at least three different behaviors for the threshold ρ(n). For each condition, we provide upper and lower bounds for ρ(n). In the strongest condition, the coloring model (which includes, e.g., random geometric graphs), we show that ρ(n) → 2-ϕ ≈ 0.38 for n → ∞, proving a conjecture by Badakhshian, Falgas-Ravry, and Sharifzadeh. This separates the coloring models from the weaker independence conditions we consider, as there we prove that ρ(n) > 0.5-o(n). In stark contrast to the coloring model, for our weakest independence condition - pairwise independence of non-adjacent edges - we show that ρ(n) lies within O(1/n²) of the threshold 1-2/n for completely arbitrary distributions.
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Johannes Lengler, Anders Martinsson, Kalina Petrova, Patrick Schnider, Raphael Steiner, Simon Weber, and Emo Welzl. On Connectivity in Random Graph Models with Limited Dependencies. In Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 275, pp. 30:1-30:22, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{lengler_et_al:LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.30,
  author =	{Lengler, Johannes and Martinsson, Anders and Petrova, Kalina and Schnider, Patrick and Steiner, Raphael and Weber, Simon and Welzl, Emo},
  title =	{{On Connectivity in Random Graph Models with Limited Dependencies}},
  booktitle =	{Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques (APPROX/RANDOM 2023)},
  pages =	{30:1--30:22},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-296-9},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{275},
  editor =	{Megow, Nicole and Smith, Adam},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.30},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-188556},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.APPROX/RANDOM.2023.30},
  annote =	{Keywords: Random Graphs, Independence, Dependency, Connectivity, Threshold, Probabilistic Method}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2023.55
Combinatorial Depth Measures for Hyperplane Arrangements

Authors: Patrick Schnider and Pablo Soberón

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 258, 39th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2023)

Abstract
Regression depth, introduced by Rousseeuw and Hubert in 1999, is a notion that measures how good of a regression hyperplane a given query hyperplane is with respect to a set of data points. Under projective duality, this can be interpreted as a depth measure for query points with respect to an arrangement of data hyperplanes. The study of depth measures for query points with respect to a set of data points has a long history, and many such depth measures have natural counterparts in the setting of hyperplane arrangements. For example, regression depth is the counterpart of Tukey depth. Motivated by this, we study general families of depth measures for hyperplane arrangements and show that all of them must have a deep point. Along the way we prove a Tverberg-type theorem for hyperplane arrangements, giving a positive answer to a conjecture by Rousseeuw and Hubert from 1999. We also get three new proofs of the centerpoint theorem for regression depth, all of which are either stronger or more general than the original proof by Amenta, Bern, Eppstein, and Teng. Finally, we prove a version of the center transversal theorem for regression depth.
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Patrick Schnider and Pablo Soberón. Combinatorial Depth Measures for Hyperplane Arrangements. In 39th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2023). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 258, pp. 55:1-55:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2023)

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@InProceedings{schnider_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2023.55,
  author =	{Schnider, Patrick and Sober\'{o}n, Pablo},
  title =	{{Combinatorial Depth Measures for Hyperplane Arrangements}},
  booktitle =	{39th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2023)},
  pages =	{55:1--55:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-273-0},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2023},
  volume =	{258},
  editor =	{Chambers, Erin W. and Gudmundsson, Joachim},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2023.55},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-179055},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2023.55},
  annote =	{Keywords: Depth measures, Hyperplane arrangements, Regression depth, Tverberg theorem}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2022.16
Well-Separation and Hyperplane Transversals in High Dimensions

Authors: Helena Bergold, Daniel Bertschinger, Nicolas Grelier, Wolfgang Mulzer, and Patrick Schnider

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 227, 18th Scandinavian Symposium and Workshops on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2022)

Abstract
A family of k point sets in d dimensions is well-separated if the convex hulls of any two disjoint subfamilies can be separated by a hyperplane. Well-separation is a strong assumption that allows us to conclude that certain kinds of generalized ham-sandwich cuts for the point sets exist. But how hard is it to check if a given family of high-dimensional point sets has this property? Starting from this question, we study several algorithmic aspects of the existence of transversals and separations in high-dimensions. First, we give an explicit proof that k point sets are well-separated if and only if their convex hulls admit no (k - 2)-transversal, i.e., if there exists no (k - 2)-dimensional flat that intersects the convex hulls of all k sets. It follows that the task of checking well-separation lies in the complexity class coNP. Next, we show that it is NP-hard to decide whether there is a hyperplane-transversal (that is, a (d - 1)-transversal) of a family of d + 1 line segments in ℝ^d, where d is part of the input. As a consequence, it follows that the general problem of testing well-separation is coNP-complete. Furthermore, we show that finding a hyperplane that maximizes the number of intersected sets is NP-hard, but allows for an Ω((log k)/(k log log k))-approximation algorithm that is polynomial in d and k, when each set consists of a single point. When all point sets are finite, we show that checking whether there exists a (k - 2)-transversal is in fact strongly NP-complete. Finally, we take the viewpoint of parametrized complexity, using the dimension d as a parameter: given k convex sets in ℝ^d, checking whether there is a (k-2)-transversal is FPT with respect to d. On the other hand, for k ≥ d+1 finite point sets in ℝ^d, it turns out that checking whether there is a (d-1)-transversal is W[1]-hard with respect to d.
Cite as

Helena Bergold, Daniel Bertschinger, Nicolas Grelier, Wolfgang Mulzer, and Patrick Schnider. Well-Separation and Hyperplane Transversals in High Dimensions. In 18th Scandinavian Symposium and Workshops on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 227, pp. 16:1-16:14, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{bergold_et_al:LIPIcs.SWAT.2022.16,
  author =	{Bergold, Helena and Bertschinger, Daniel and Grelier, Nicolas and Mulzer, Wolfgang and Schnider, Patrick},
  title =	{{Well-Separation and Hyperplane Transversals in High Dimensions}},
  booktitle =	{18th Scandinavian Symposium and Workshops on Algorithm Theory (SWAT 2022)},
  pages =	{16:1--16:14},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-236-5},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{227},
  editor =	{Czumaj, Artur and Xin, Qin},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2022.16},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-161766},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SWAT.2022.16},
  annote =	{Keywords: hyperplane transversal, high-dimension, hardness}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.6
Edge Partitions of Complete Geometric Graphs

Authors: Oswin Aichholzer, Johannes Obenaus, Joachim Orthaber, Rosna Paul, Patrick Schnider, Raphael Steiner, Tim Taubner, and Birgit Vogtenhuber

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 224, 38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022)

Abstract
In this paper, we disprove the long-standing conjecture that any complete geometric graph on 2n vertices can be partitioned into n plane spanning trees. Our construction is based on so-called bumpy wheel sets. We fully characterize which bumpy wheels can and in particular which cannot be partitioned into plane spanning trees (or even into arbitrary plane subgraphs). Furthermore, we show a sufficient condition for generalized wheels to not admit a partition into plane spanning trees, and give a complete characterization when they admit a partition into plane spanning double stars. Finally, we initiate the study of partitions into beyond planar subgraphs, namely into k-planar and k-quasi-planar subgraphs and obtain first bounds on the number of subgraphs required in this setting.
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Oswin Aichholzer, Johannes Obenaus, Joachim Orthaber, Rosna Paul, Patrick Schnider, Raphael Steiner, Tim Taubner, and Birgit Vogtenhuber. Edge Partitions of Complete Geometric Graphs. In 38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 224, pp. 6:1-6:16, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2022)

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@InProceedings{aichholzer_et_al:LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.6,
  author =	{Aichholzer, Oswin and Obenaus, Johannes and Orthaber, Joachim and Paul, Rosna and Schnider, Patrick and Steiner, Raphael and Taubner, Tim and Vogtenhuber, Birgit},
  title =	{{Edge Partitions of Complete Geometric Graphs}},
  booktitle =	{38th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2022)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:16},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-227-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2022},
  volume =	{224},
  editor =	{Goaoc, Xavier and Kerber, Michael},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-160141},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2022.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: edge partition, complete geometric graph, plane spanning tree, wheel set}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.10
Enclosing Depth and Other Depth Measures

Authors: Patrick Schnider

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 212, 32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021)

Abstract
We study families of depth measures defined by natural sets of axioms. We show that any such depth measure is a constant factor approximation of Tukey depth. We further investigate the dimensions of depth regions, showing that the Cascade conjecture, introduced by Kalai for Tverberg depth, holds for all depth measures which satisfy our most restrictive set of axioms, which includes Tukey depth. Along the way, we introduce and study a new depth measure called enclosing depth, which we believe to be of independent interest, and show its relation to a constant-fraction Radon theorem on certain two-colored point sets.
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Patrick Schnider. Enclosing Depth and Other Depth Measures. In 32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 212, pp. 10:1-10:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{schnider:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.10,
  author =	{Schnider, Patrick},
  title =	{{Enclosing Depth and Other Depth Measures}},
  booktitle =	{32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021)},
  pages =	{10:1--10:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-214-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{212},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Sadakane, Kunihiko},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.10},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-154431},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.10},
  annote =	{Keywords: Depth measures, Tukey depth, Tverberg theorem, Combinatorial Geometry}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.13
The Complexity of Sharing a Pizza

Authors: Patrick Schnider

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 212, 32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021)

Abstract
Assume you have a 2-dimensional pizza with 2n ingredients that you want to share with your friend. For this you are allowed to cut the pizza using several straight cuts, and then give every second piece to your friend. You want to do this fairly, that is, your friend and you should each get exactly half of each ingredient. How many cuts do you need? It was recently shown using topological methods that n cuts always suffice. In this work, we study the computational complexity of finding such n cuts. Our main result is that this problem is PPA-complete when the ingredients are represented as point sets. For this, we give a new proof that for point sets n cuts suffice, which does not use any topological methods. We further prove several hardness results as well as a higher-dimensional variant for the case where the ingredients are well-separated.
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Patrick Schnider. The Complexity of Sharing a Pizza. In 32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 212, pp. 13:1-13:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2021)

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@InProceedings{schnider:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.13,
  author =	{Schnider, Patrick},
  title =	{{The Complexity of Sharing a Pizza}},
  booktitle =	{32nd International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2021)},
  pages =	{13:1--13:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-214-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2021},
  volume =	{212},
  editor =	{Ahn, Hee-Kap and Sadakane, Kunihiko},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.13},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-154460},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2021.13},
  annote =	{Keywords: pizza sharing, Ham-Sandwich theorem, PPA, computational geometry, computational complexity}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.56
Ham-Sandwich Cuts and Center Transversals in Subspaces

Authors: Patrick Schnider

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 129, 35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019)

Abstract
The Ham-Sandwich theorem is a well-known result in geometry. It states that any d mass distributions in R^d can be simultaneously bisected by a hyperplane. The result is tight, that is, there are examples of d+1 mass distributions that cannot be simultaneously bisected by a single hyperplane. In this abstract we will study the following question: given a continuous assignment of mass distributions to certain subsets of R^d, is there a subset on which we can bisect more masses than what is guaranteed by the Ham-Sandwich theorem? We investigate two types of subsets. The first type are linear subspaces of R^d, i.e., k-dimensional flats containing the origin. We show that for any continuous assignment of d mass distributions to the k-dimensional linear subspaces of R^d, there is always a subspace on which we can simultaneously bisect the images of all d assignments. We extend this result to center transversals, a generalization of Ham-Sandwich cuts. As for Ham-Sandwich cuts, we further show that for d-k+2 masses, we can choose k-1 of the vectors defining the k-dimensional subspace in which the solution lies. The second type of subsets we consider are subsets that are determined by families of n hyperplanes in R^d. Also in this case, we find a Ham-Sandwich-type result. In an attempt to solve a conjecture by Langerman about bisections with several cuts, we show that our underlying topological result can be used to prove this conjecture in a relaxed setting.
Cite as

Patrick Schnider. Ham-Sandwich Cuts and Center Transversals in Subspaces. In 35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 129, pp. 56:1-56:15, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2019)

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@InProceedings{schnider:LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.56,
  author =	{Schnider, Patrick},
  title =	{{Ham-Sandwich Cuts and Center Transversals in Subspaces}},
  booktitle =	{35th International Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG 2019)},
  pages =	{56:1--56:15},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-104-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2019},
  volume =	{129},
  editor =	{Barequet, Gill and Wang, Yusu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.56},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-104609},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.SoCG.2019.56},
  annote =	{Keywords: Ham-Sandwich cuts, center transversal, topological methods}
}
Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2018.53
Extending the Centerpoint Theorem to Multiple Points

Authors: Alexander Pilz and Patrick Schnider

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 123, 29th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2018)

Abstract
The centerpoint theorem is a well-known and widely used result in discrete geometry. It states that for any point set P of n points in R^d, there is a point c, not necessarily from P, such that each halfspace containing c contains at least n/(d+1) points of P. Such a point c is called a centerpoint, and it can be viewed as a generalization of a median to higher dimensions. In other words, a centerpoint can be interpreted as a good representative for the point set P. But what if we allow more than one representative? For example in one-dimensional data sets, often certain quantiles are chosen as representatives instead of the median. We present a possible extension of the concept of quantiles to higher dimensions. The idea is to find a set Q of (few) points such that every halfspace that contains one point of Q contains a large fraction of the points of P and every halfspace that contains more of Q contains an even larger fraction of P. This setting is comparable to the well-studied concepts of weak epsilon-nets and weak epsilon-approximations, where it is stronger than the former but weaker than the latter. We show that for any point set of size n in R^d and for any positive alpha_1,...,alpha_k where alpha_1 <= alpha_2 <= ... <= alpha_k and for every i,j with i+j <= k+1 we have that (d-1)alpha_k+alpha_i+alpha_j <= 1, we can find Q of size k such that each halfspace containing j points of Q contains least alpha_j n points of P. For two-dimensional point sets we further show that for every alpha and beta with alpha <= beta and alpha+beta <= 2/3 we can find Q with |Q|=3 such that each halfplane containing one point of Q contains at least alpha n of the points of P and each halfplane containing all of Q contains at least beta n points of P. All these results generalize to the setting where P is any mass distribution. For the case where P is a point set in R^2 and |Q|=2, we provide algorithms to find such points in time O(n log^3 n).
Cite as

Alexander Pilz and Patrick Schnider. Extending the Centerpoint Theorem to Multiple Points. In 29th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2018). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 123, pp. 53:1-53:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2018)

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@InProceedings{pilz_et_al:LIPIcs.ISAAC.2018.53,
  author =	{Pilz, Alexander and Schnider, Patrick},
  title =	{{Extending the Centerpoint Theorem to Multiple Points}},
  booktitle =	{29th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2018)},
  pages =	{53:1--53:13},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-094-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2018},
  volume =	{123},
  editor =	{Hsu, Wen-Lian and Lee, Der-Tsai and Liao, Chung-Shou},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2018.53},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-100019},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ISAAC.2018.53},
  annote =	{Keywords: centerpoint, point sets, Tukey depth}
}
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