Multiple covers with balls. I: Inclusion-exclusion (Q1699285)

An effective method for computing the volume of a union of balls, or possibly more general sets, is the principle of inclusion-exclusion. Given a finite collection of measurable sets, \(\mathcal X\), in \(\mathbb R^n\), it asserts that the volume of the union is the alternating sum of the volumes of the common intersections of the sets in all subcollections \(Q \subseteq\mathcal X\). Short inclusion-exclusion formulas for the \(k\)-fold cover of a finite set of balls in \(\mathcal R^n\) are proved in the paper, one based on the order-\(k\) Voronoi diagram, and the other on the \(k\)-th level in the lifted hyperplane arrangement.