Algebraic method for manipulation of dimensional relationships in geometric models (Q1186449)

The author addresses the database problem in geometric modeling. Given a geometric configuration, one may want to replace certain dimensions (taken in the engineering, not the mathematical sense) by other data without changing the configuration. For example, instead of specifying the radius of a circle, one may prefer to specify the abscissa of an intersection of the circle with a given segment. Since modelling requirements may be such a substitution desirable, the problem is to represent the entire system so as not to exclude any future change of mind in the representation. The author's solution is to represent all data as algebraic relations (for uniqueness referred to a Gröbner base of the polynomial ideal involved) and to add not only the new parameter but also the algebraic expression of the old parameter in terms of the new and remaining parameters. \{The resulting procedure is quite elegant but in general it cannot work: Algebraic representation always gives complete intersections and the problem of selecting the desired one from the undesired one grows as \(O(n!)\). This is obvious from the author's own example: he wants to model the intersection of a segment (``line'' in Euclid's terminology) and a circle but models the intersection of a straight line and the circle.\}.