Edelsbrunner H. Algorithms in Combinatorial Geometry

Springer, 1987. — 439 p.Computational geometry as an area of research in its own right emerged in the early seventies of this century. Right from the beginning, it was obvious that strong connections of various kinds exist to questions studied in the considerably older field of combinatorial geometry. For example, the combinatorial structure of a geometric problem usually decides which algorithmic method solves the problem most efficiently. Furthermore, the analysis of an algorithm often requires a great deal of combinatorial knowledge. As it turns out, however, the connection between the two research areas commonly referred to as computational geometry and combinatorial geometry is not as lop-sided as it appears. Indeed, the interest in computational issues in geometry gives a new and constructive direction to the combinatorial study of geometry.
It is the intention of this book to demonstrate that computational and combinatorial investigations in geometry are doomed to profit from each other. To reach this goal, I designed this book to consist of three parts, a combinatorial part, a computational part, and one that presents applications of the results of the first two parts. The choice of the topics covered in this book was guided by my attempt to describe the most fundamental algorithms in computational geometry that have an interesting combinatorial structure. In this early stage geometric transforms played an important role as they reveal connections between seemingly unrelated problems and thus help to structure the field. These transforms led me to believe that arrangements of hyperplanes are at the very heart of computational geometry - and this is my belief now more than ever.
As mentioned above, this book consists of three parts: I. Combinatorial Geometry, II. Fundamental Geometric Algorithms, and III. Geometric and Algorithmic Applications. Each part consists of four to six chapters. The non-trivial connection pattern between the various chapters of the three parts can be somewhat untangled if we group the chapters according to four major computational problems. The construction of an arrangement of hyper- planes is tackled in Chapter 7 after Chapters 1, 2, and 5 provide preparatory investigations. Chapter 12 is a collection of applications of an algorithm that constructs an arrangement. The construction of the convex hull of a set of points which is discussed in Chapter 8 builds on combinatorial results presented in Chapter 6 . Levels and other structures in an arrangement can be computed by methods described in Chapter 9 which bears a close relationship to the combinatorial studies undertaken in Chapter 3 . Finally, space cutting algorithms are presented in Chapter 14 which is based on the combinatorial investigations of Chapter 4 and the computational results of Chapter 10 . The above listing of relations between the various chapters is by no means exhaustive. For example, the connections between Chapter 13 and the other chapters of this book come in too many shapes to be described here. Finally, Chapter 15 reviews the techniques used in the other chapters of this book to provide some kind of paradigmatic approach to solving computational geometry problems.Combinatorial Geometry
Fundamental Concepts in Combinatorial Geometry
Permutation Tables
Semispaces of Configurations
Dissections of Point Sets
Zones in Arrangements
The Complexity of Families of Cells
Fundamental Geometric Algorithms
Constructing Arrangements
Constructing Convex Hulls
Skeletons in Arrangements
Linear Programming
Planar Point Location Search
Geometric and Algorithmic Applications
Problems for Configurations and Arrangements
Voronoi Diagrams
Separation and Intersection in the Plane
Paradigmatic Design of Algorithms