CS 4960: Introduction to Computational Geometry

Spring 2016

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• Course Schedule: including news, lectures, assignments and handouts etc.
  

• Course Syllabus in PDF
  

• College of Engineering Academic Guidelines
  

Syllabus Highlights

Catalog #, Section #, Course #
CS 4960, 001, 17441

Course Description

This course is an undergraduate elective that provides an accessible introduction to computational geometry. Computational geometry is a relatively young and emerging area in computer science that has made exciting advancements in recent years. It has close connection to many application areas such as integrated circuit design, computer-aided engineering, computer vision, molecular biology, geometric databases, sensor networks, visualization, robotics, computer graphics and geometric modeling. This course focuses on solving application-driven, data-centric problems with geometric input and output. This course includes 4-6 programming assignments designed to provide hands-on experience in solving problems in 2D and 3D geometry, using C/C++. This class would be ideal for undergraduate students who are interested in data analysis, computer graphics, visualization, robotics, computer vision, image processing, gaming and animation. Specifically, in this course, we will touch on the following topics with an emphasis on data and applications: geometry foundations; polygons; convex hull in 2D and 3D; Delaunay triangulations and Voronoi diagrams; curves; meshes; polyhedra; as well as selected topics. This course will be followed by an advanced graduate course in computational geometry (CS 6160: Computational Geometry).

Prerequisite

CS 4150
However, if you are a second, third or fourth year student who has not taken CS 4150 but is interested in this class, please send me an email.
You will need some programming background (C++, Jave or Python) for completing the class projects.

Course Topics (subject to change) (includes but not limited to):

1. Geometry foundations: motivation, primitives, transformation
2. Polygons and Art Gallery Theorem
3. Convex hull: convex hull in 2D and 3D, and applications
4. Triangulations and Voronoi diagrams: Delaunay triangulation and special cases; graphs, 2D, 3D and weighted constructions, duality
5. Curves: medial axis, reconstruction
6. Tetrahedron meshes
7. Polyhedra
8. Surfaces: reconstruction, surface simplification
9. Selected topics and open problems


Lectures

Tuesdays, Thursdays, 3:40 pm - 5:00pm, WEB 1230
 

Office Hours

Bei Wang: Tuesdays 5 pm - 6 pm or by appointment (beiwang AT sci.utah.edu), WEB 4819

Teaching Assistant Vikram Raj: Wednesday 3:30 - 5:30 p.m or by appointment (vikram.raj AT utah.edu), MEB 3115 seat 12

Required Textbook:

Disability Notice

The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services and activities for people with disabilities.  If you will need accommodations in the class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 801-581-5020 (V/TDD).  CDS will work with you and the instructor to make arrangements for accommodations.

All written information in this course can be made available in alternative format with prior notification to the Center for Disability Services.