Smallest enclosing box
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- See "Minimum bounding box" for the box specified by minimal and maximal coordinates
In computational geometry, the smallest enclosing box problem is that of finding the box (hyperrectangle) of smallest measure (volume, area, perimeter, etc.) enclosing a given object or set of objects. It is a type of bounding volume.
It is sufficient to find the smallest enclosing box for the convex hull of the objects in question.
[edit] Two dimensions
For the convex polygon, a linear time algorithm for the minimum-area enclosing rectangle is known.It is based on the observation that a side of a minimum-area enclosing box must be collinear with a side of the convex polygon.[1] It is possible to enumerate of the boxes of this kind in linear time with the approach called rotating calipers by Godfried Toussaint in 1983 [2] The same approact is applicable for finding the minimum-perimeter enclosing rectangle. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ H. Freeman and R. Shapira, "Freeman Determining the Minimum-Area Encasing Rectangle for an Arbitrary Closed Curve", Comm. ACM, 1975, pp.409-413.
- ^ a b Toussaint, G. T (1983). "Solving geometric problems with the rotating calipers". . Proc. MELECON '83, Athens