Abstract
An algorithm is presented to draw Hasse-diagrams of partially ordered sets (orders). It uses two heuristic principles to generate ‘good’ pictures for a wide range of orders. These two principles are (i) The total length of all edges of the diagram should be small (with the vertices kept at a minimal distance) and (ii) the vertices are constrained to coincide with the grid points of a given rectangular planar grid. The benefits are quite straightforward sine (i) using less ink means less confusion and (ii) the restriction to grid points tends to keep the number of different slopes small. Since the program was conceived as a readily usable tool (with the emphasis on results rather than on perfection), we are well aware of the fact that it will lend itself easily to improvements in many aspects.
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Aeschlimann, A., Schmid, J. Drawing orders using less ink. Order 9, 5–13 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419035
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419035