Numerical roadmap of smooth bounded real algebraic surface

Changbo Chen, Wenyuan Wu, Yong Feng

Abstract: For a smooth bounded real algebraic surface in R n , a roadmap of it is a one-dimensional semi-algebraic subset of the surface whose intersection with each connected component of the surface is nonempty and semi-algebraically connected. In this paper, we introduce the notion of a numerical roadmap of a surface, which is a set of disjoint polygonal chains such that there is a bijective map between the chains and the connected components of a given roadmap of the surface. Moreover, the chains are ϵ-close to the connected components. We present an algorithm to compute such a numerical roadmap through constructing a topological graph. The topological graph also enables us to compute an approximate graph and a more intrinsic connectivity graph to represent the roadmap and its connectivity property, which is important for applications such as determining if two points on the surface belong to the same connected component and if so, finding a connected path between them.