Necklace splitting problem

Necklace splitting is a picturesque name given to several related problems in combinatorics and measure theory. Its name and solutions are due to mathematicians Noga Alon [1] and Douglas B. West.[2]

a stylized picture of a necklace, with 8 red and 6 green pearls. The pearls are threaded on to an incomplete elliptical black curve that represents the string. The gap in the curve represents the clasp (open in the diagram) which may be closed when the necklace is placed around the neck. There are two short heavy lines marking breaks in the necklace string. Starting from the left, the necklace is: RRRGRBRRGRRGGBGG, where "R" means "red pearl", "G" means "green pearl", and "B" means "break". The breaks correspond to those in the text

Example of necklace splitting with k = 2 (i.e. two partners), and t = 2 (i.e. two types of beads, here 8 red and 6 green). A 2-split is shown.

The basic setting involves a necklace with beads of different colors. The necklace should be divided between several partners, such that each partner receives the same amount of every color. Moreover, the number of cuts should be as small as possible (in order to waste as little as possible of the metal in the links between the beads).

Variants

The following variants of the problem have been solved in the original paper:

1. Discrete splitting:[1]:Th 1.1 The necklace has k\cdot n beads. The beads come in t different colors. There are k\cdot a_i beads of each color i, where a_i is a positive integer. Partition the necklace into k parts (not necessarily contiguous), each of which has exactly a_i beads of color i. Use at most (k-1)t cuts. Note that if the beads of each color are contiguous on the necklace, then at least k-1 cuts must be done inside each color, so (k-1)t is optimal.

2. Continuous splitting:[1]:Th 2.1 The necklace is the real interval [0,k\cdot n]. Each point of the interval is colored in one of t different colors. For every color i, the set of points colored by i is Lebesgue-measurable and has length k\cdot a_i, where a_i is a non-negative real number. Partition the interval to k parts (not necessarily contiguous), such that in each part, the total length of color i is exactly a_i. Use at most (k-1)t cuts.

3. Measure splitting:[1]:Th 1.2 The necklace is a real interval. There are t different measures on the interval, all absolutely continuous with respect to length. The measure of the entire necklace, according to measure i, is k\cdot a_i. Partition the interval to k parts (not necessarily contiguous), such that the measure of each part, according to measure i, is exactly a_i. Use at most (k-1)t cuts. This is a generalization of the Hobby–Rice theorem, and it is used to get an exact division of a cake.

Each problem can be solved by the next problem:

Proof

The case k=2 can be proved by the Borsuk-Ulam theorem.[2]

When k is an odd prime number, the proof involves a generalization of the Borsuk-Ulam theorem.[3]

When k is a composite number, the proof is as follows (demonstrated for the measure-splitting variant). Suppose k=p\cdot q. There are t measures, each of which values the entire necklace as p\cdot q\cdot a_i. Using (p-1)\cdot t cuts, divide the necklace to p parts such that measure i of each part is exactly q\cdot a_i. Using (q-1)\cdot t cuts, divide each part to q parts such that measure i of each part is exactly a_i. All in all, there are now p q parts such that measure i of each part is exactly a_i. The total number of cuts is (p-1)\cdot t plus p (q-1)\cdot t which is exactly (pq-1)\cdot t.

Further results

One cut fewer than needed

In the case of two thieves [i.e. k = 2] and t colours, a fair split would require at most t cuts. If, however, only t  1 cuts are available, Hungarian mathematician Gábor Simonyi[4] shows that the two thieves can achieve an almost fair division in the following sense.

If the necklace is arranged so that no t-split is possible, then for any two subsets D1 and D2 of { 1, 2, ...,  t }, not both empty, such that D_1\cap D_2=\varnothing, a (t  1)-split exists such that:

I.e. if the thieves have preferences in the form of two "preference" sets D1 and D2, not both empty, there exists a (t  1)-split so that thief 1 gets more beads of types in his preference set D1 than thief 2; thief 2 gets more beads of types in her preference set D2 than thief 1; and the rest are equal.

Simonyi credits Gábor Tardos with noticing that the result above is a direct generalization of Alon's original necklace theorem in the case k = 2. Either the necklace has a (t  1)-split, or it does not. If it does, there is nothing to prove. If it does not, we may add beads of a fictitious colour to the necklace, and make D1 consist of the fictitious colour and D2 empty. Then Simonyi's result shows that there is a t-split with equal numbers of each real colour.

Negative result

that for every k\geq 1 there is a measurable (k+3)-coloring of the real line such that no interval can be fairly split using at most k cuts.[5]

Splitting multidimensional necklaces

The result can be generalized to n probability measures defined on a d dimensional cube with any combination of n(k  1) hyperplanes parallel to the sides for k thieves.[6]

Approximation algorithm

An approximation algorithm for splitting a necklace can be derived from an algorithm for consensus halving.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alon, Noga (1987). "Splitting Necklaces". Advances in Mathematics 63 (3): 247253. doi:10.1016/0001-8708(87)90055-7.
  2. 1 2 Alon, Noga; West, D. B. (December 1986). "The Borsuk-Ulam theorem and bisection of necklaces". Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society 98 (4): 623628. doi:10.1090/s0002-9939-1986-0861764-9.
  3. I.Barany and S.B.Shlosman and A.Szucs (1981). "On a topological generalization of a theorem of Tverberg" (PDF). Journal of London Mathematical Society 2 (23): 158–164.
  4. Simonyi, Gábor (2008). "Necklace bisection with one less cut than needed". Electronic journal of combinatorics 15 (N16).
  5. "Splitting necklaces and measurable colorings of the real line". Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society. November 25, 2008. doi:10.1090/s0002-9939-08-09699-8. ISSN 1088-6826.
  6. de Longueville, Mark; Rade T. Živaljević (2008). "Splitting multidimensional necklaces". Advances in Mathematics 218 (3): 926939. doi:10.1016/j.aim.2008.02.003.
  7. Simmons, Forest W.; Su, Francis Edward (February 2003). "Consensus-halving via theorems of Borsuk-Ulam and Tucker". Mathematical Social Sciences 45 (1): 15–25. doi:10.1016/s0165-4896(02)00087-2.
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