Abstract
The theme of this chapter is a rather simple method that has proved very potent in the analysis of the expected performance of various randomized algorithms and data structures in computational geometry. The method can be described as “analyze a randomized algorithm as if it were running backwards in time, from output to input.” We apply this type of analysis to a variety of algorithms, old and new, and obtain solutions with optimal or near optimal expected performance for a plethora of problems in computational geometry, such as computing Delaunay triangulations of convex polygons, computing convex hulls of point sets in the plane or in higher dimensions, sorting, intersecting line segments, linear programming with a fixed number of variables, and others.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
P.K. Agarwal, H. Edelsbrunner, O. Schwarzkopf, and E. Welzl: Euclidean minimum spanning trees and bichromatic closest pairs. Proc. 6th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry 1990, pp. 203–210
A. Aggarwal, L.J. Guibas, J. Saxe, and P.W. Shor: A Linear time algorithm for computing the Voronoi diagram of a convex polygon. Proc. 19th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing 1987, pp. 39–47
F. Aurenhammer: Voronoi diagrams — A survey. To appear in ACM Computing Surveys
D. Avis and H. ElGindy: Triangulating simplicial point sets in space. Proc. 2nd ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry 1986, pp. 133–141
J.L. Bentley and T.A. Ottmann: Algorithms for reporting and counting geometric intersections. IEEE Transactions on Computers 28 (1979) 643–647
J.L. Bentley and M.I. Shamos: Divide-and-conquer for linear expected time. Information Processing Letters 7 (1978) 87–91
J.D. Boissonnat, O. Devillers, R. Schott, M. Teillaud, and M. Yvinec: Applications of random sampling to on-line algorithms in Computational Geometry. INRIA Tech. Report 1285 (1990)
J.D. Boissonnat, O. Devillers, and M. Teillaud: A randomized incremental algorithm for constructing higher order Voronoi diagrams. To appear in Algorithmica
J.D. Boissonnat, O. Devillers, R. Schott, M. Teillaud, and M. Yvinec: On-line algorithms with good expected behaviours. Manuscript (1991)
B. Chazelle: Reporting and counting segment intersections. J. Computer System Science 32 (1986) 156–182
B. Chazelle and H. Edelsbrunner: An optimal algorithm for intersecting line segments in the plane. Proc. 29th IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science 1988, pp. 590–600
B. Chazelle, H. Edelsbrunner, L.J. Guibas, and M. Sharir: Computing a face in an arrangement of line segments. Proc. 2nd ACM-SIAM Symp. on Discrete Algorithms 1991, pp. 441–448
B. Chazelle, L.J. Guibas, and D.T. Lee: The power of geometric duality. BIT 25 (1985) 76–90
P. Chew: Building Voronoi diagrams for convex polygons in linear expected time. Manuscript (1986)
K.L. Clarkson: A probabilistic algorithm for the post office problem. Proc. 17th ACM Symp. on Theory of Computing (1985), pp. 175–184
K.L. Clarkson: New applications of random sampling in computational geometry. Discrete & Computational Geometry 2 (1987) 195–222
K.L. Clarkson and P.W. Shor: Algorithms for diametral pairs and convex hulls that are optimal, randomized, and incremental. Proc. 4th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry (1988), pp. 12–17
K.L. Clarkson and P.W. Shor: Applications of random sampling in computational geometry, II. Discrete & Computational Geometry 4 (1989) 387–421
K.L. Clarkson: Linear programming in O(n3d2) time. Inf. Proc. Letters 22 (1986) 21–24
K.L. Clarkson: A Las Vegas algorithm for linear and integer programming when the dimension is small. Manuscript; a preliminary version appeared in Proc. 29th IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (1988), pp. 452–456
K.L. Clarkson: Personal Communication, September 10 (1990)
M.E. Dyer: Linear algorithms for two and three-variable linear programs. SIAM J. on Computing 13 (1984) 31–45
M.E. Dyer: On a multidimensional search technique and its applications to the Euclidean one-centre problem. SIAM J. on Computing 15 (1986) 725–738
M.E. Dyer and A.M. Friez: A randomized algorithm for fixed-dimensional linear programming. Mathematical Programming 44 (1989) 203–212
H. Edelsbrunner: Algorithms in combinatorial geometry. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1987
H. Edelsbrunner, F.P. Preparata, and D.B. West: Tetrahedrizing point sets in three dimensions. Tech. Rep. UIUCDCS-R-86–1310, Univ. of Illinois, Dept. Computer Science (1986)
H. Edelsbrunner, J. O’Rourke, and R. Seidel: Constructing arrangements of hyperplanes and applications. SIAM J. on Computing 15 (1986) 341–363
G.H. Gonnet. Handbook of algorithms and data structures. Addison-Wesley, 1984
R.L. Graham: An efficient algorithm for determining the convex hull of a finite planar set. Inform. Proc. Lett. 1 (1972) 132–133
L.J. Guibas, D.E. Knuth, and M. Sharir: Randomized incremental construction of Delaunay and Voronoi diagrams. Proc. ICALP (1990)
T. Hagerup and C. Rüb: A guided tour of Chernoff bounds. Inform. Proc. Letters 33 (1989/90) 305–308
D. Haussler and E. Welzl: Epsilon-nets and simplex range queries. Discrete & Computational Geometry 2 (1987) 127–151
C.A.R. Hoare: Quicksort. Computer Journal 5.1 (1962) 10–15
R.M. Karp: An introduction to randomized algorithms. To appear in Discr. Appl. Math.
D.G. Kirkpatrick, R. Seidel: The ultimate planar convex hull algorithm? SIAM J. on Comput. 15, no. 1 (1986) 287–299
R. Klein: Concrete and abstract Voronoi diagrams. Springer, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 400 (1989)
J. Matoušek and R. Seidel: On tail estimates for Mulmuley’s segment intersection algorithm. In preparation
J. Matoušek, M. Sharir, and E. Welzl: A subexponential bound for linear programming. To appear in Proc. of 8th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry (1992)
N. Megiddo: Linear-time algorithms for linear programming in 1R3 and related problems. SIAM J. on Computing 12 (1983) 759–776
N. Megiddo: Linear programming in linear time when the dimension is fixed. Journal of the ACM 31 (1984) 114–127
K. Mehlhorn: Personal Communication, October (1990)
K. Mulmuley: A fast planar partition algorithm: Part I. Proc. 29th IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (1988), pp. 580–589
K. Mulmuley: A fast planar partition algorithm: Part II. Proc. 5th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry (1989), pp. 33–43
K. Mulmuley: On obstructions in relation to a fixed viewpoint. Proc. 30th IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (1989), pp. 592–597
F.P. Preparata and M.I. Shamos: Computational geometry — An introduction. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1985
M.O. Rabin: Probabilistic algorithms. In: J.F. Traub, ed., Algorithms and Complexity, Recent Results and New Dierections. Academic Press, New York (1976), pp. 21–39
P. Raghavan: Lecture notes on randomized algorithms. IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Computer Science Report RC 15430 (1990)
G. Rote: Personal communication. October 15 (1990)
R. Sedgewick: Quicksort. Garland, New York (1978)
R. Seidel: Linear programming and convex hulls made easy. Proc. 6th ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry (1990), pp. 211–215
R. Seidel: A simple and fast incremental algorithm for computing trapezoidal decompositions and for triangulating polygons. To appear in Computational Geometry: Theory and applications (1991)
M.I. Shamos: Computational geometry. Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Computer Science, Yale Univ. (1978)
M.I. Shamos and D. Hoey: Closest point problems. Proc. 16th IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (1975), pp. 151–162
M. Sharir and E. Welzl: A combinatorial bound for linear programming and related problems. Proc. of 9th Symp. on theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 1992)
J.S. Vitter and Ph. Flajolet: Average-case analysis of algorithms and data structures. In: J. van Leeuwen, ed, Handbook of theoretical computer science: algorithms and complexity. Elsevier (1990), pp. 431–524
E. Welzl: Smallest enclosing disks (balls and ellipsoids). In: H. Maurer, ed., New results and new trends in computer science. Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science 555 (1991) 359–370
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Seidel, R. (1993). Backwards Analysis of Randomized Geometric Algorithms. In: Pach, J. (eds) New Trends in Discrete and Computational Geometry. Algorithms and Combinatorics, vol 10. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58043-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-58043-7_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-55713-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-58043-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive