Hello all , I am trying to understand rotating calipers [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_calipers ] but i am not sure if understood this algorithm correctly . I tried to use the almost same algorithm given on wiki but with four calipers to solve the problem [ http://cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~orm/rotcal.html ]. My approach is find xminP, xmaxP, yminP ymaxP and their corresponding calipers will be ( 0 * i - j ) , ( o * i + j ) , ( i + 0 * j ) and ( -i + 0 * j ). I implemented the algorithm in Haskell but its not working . I am not sure if i have followed the wiki algorithm correctly and could some one please tell me what is wrong with implementation. It would be great if some one can explain this algorithm in pseudo code which explains the rotating caliper and their implementation details . In case of indentation , see here [ http://hpaste.org/49907 ] . Thank you Mukesh Tiwari import Data.List import Data.Array import Data.Maybe import Data.Function import Text.Printf import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as BS data Point a = P a a deriving ( Show , Ord , Eq ) data Vector a = V a a deriving ( Show , Ord , Eq ) data Turn = S | L | R deriving ( Show , Eq , Ord , Enum ) --start of convex hull compPoint :: ( Num a , Ord a ) => Point a -> Point a -> Ordering compPoint ( P x1 y1 ) ( P x2 y2 ) | compare x1 x2 == EQ = compare y1 y2 | otherwise = compare x1 x2 findMinx :: ( Num a , Ord a ) => [ Point a ] -> [ Point a ] findMinx xs = sortBy ( \x y -> compPoint x y ) xs compAngle ::(Num a , Ord a ) => Point a -> Point a -> Point a -> Ordering compAngle ( P x1 y1 ) ( P x2 y2 ) ( P x0 y0 ) = compare ( ( y1 - y0 ) * ( x2 - x0 ) ) ( ( y2 - y0) * ( x1 - x0 ) ) sortByangle :: ( Num a , Ord a ) => [ Point a ] -> [ Point a ] sortByangle (z:xs) = z : sortBy ( \x y -> compAngle x y z ) xs findTurn :: ( Num a , Ord a , Eq a ) => Point a -> Point a -> Point a -

Turn findTurn ( P x0 y0 ) ( P x1 y1 ) ( P x2 y2 ) | ( y1 - y0 ) * ( x2- x0 ) < ( y2 - y0 ) * ( x1 - x0 ) = L | ( y1 - y0 ) * ( x2- x0 ) == ( y2 - y0 ) * ( x1 - x0 ) = S | otherwise = R

findHull :: ( Num a , Ord a ) => [ Point a ] -> [ Point a ] -> [ Point a ] findHull [x] ( z : ys ) = findHull [ z , x ] ys --incase of second point on line from x to z findHull xs [] = xs findHull ( y : x : xs ) ( z : ys ) | findTurn x y z == R = findHull ( x : xs ) ( z:ys ) | findTurn x y z == S = findHull ( x : xs ) ( z:ys ) | otherwise = findHull ( z : y : x : xs ) ys convexHull ::( Num a , Ord a ) => [ Point a ] -> [ Point a ] convexHull xs = reverse . findHull [ y , x ] $ ys where ( x : y : ys ) = sortByangle . findMinx $ xs --end of convex hull --start of rotating caliper part http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_calipers --dot product for getting angle angVectors :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => Vector a -> Vector a -

a angVectors ( V ax ay ) ( V bx by ) = theta where dot = ax * bx + ay * by a = sqrt $ ax ^ 2 + ay ^ 2 b = sqrt $ bx ^ 2 + by ^ 2 theta = acos $ dot / a / b

--rotate the vector x y by angle t rotVector :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => Vector a -> a -> Vector a rotVector ( V x y ) t = V ( x * cos t - y * sin t ) ( x * sin t + y * cos t ) --dist between two parallel vectors distVec :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => Vector a -> Vector a -> a distVec ( V x1 y1 ) ( V x2 y2 ) = sqrt $ ( x1 - x2 ) ^ 2 + ( y1 - y2 ) ^ 2 --rotating caliipers rotCal :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => Array Int ( Point a ) -> a -> [ Int ] -> [ Vector a ] -> a -> Int -> a rotCal arr ang [ pa , pb , qa , qb] [ cpa , cpb , cqa , cqb ] area n | 2 * ang > pi = area | otherwise = rotCal arr ang' [ pa' , pb' , qa' , qb' ] [ cpa' , cpb' , cqa' , cqb' ] area' n where P x1 y1 = arr ! pa P x2 y2 = arr ! ( mod ( pa + 1 ) n ) P x3 y3 = arr ! pb P x4 y4 = arr ! ( mod ( pb + 1 ) n ) P x5 y5 = arr ! qa P x6 y6 = arr ! ( mod ( qa + 1 ) n ) P x7 y7 = arr ! qb P x8 y8 = arr ! ( mod ( qb + 1 ) n ) t1 = angVectors cpa ( V ( x2 - x1 ) ( y2 - y1 ) ) t2 = angVectors cpb ( V ( x4 - x3 ) ( y4 - y3 ) ) t3 = angVectors cqa ( V ( x6 - x5 ) ( y6 - y5 ) ) t4 = angVectors cqb ( V ( x8 - x7 ) ( y8 - y7 ) ) t = minimum [ t1 , t2 , t3 , t4 ] cpa' = rotVector cpa t cpb' = rotVector cpb t cqa' = rotVector cqa t cqb' = rotVector cqb t ang' = ang + t ( pa' , pb' , qa' , qb' ) = fN [ t1 , t2 , t3 , t4 ] t where fN [ t1 , t2 , t3 , t4 ] t | t == t1 = ( mod ( pa + 1 ) n , pb , qa , qb ) | t == t2 = ( pa , mod ( pb + 1 ) n , qa , qb ) | t == t3 = ( pa , pb , mod ( qa + 1 ) n , qb ) | otherwise = ( pa , pb , qa , mod ( qb + 1 ) n ) width = distVec cpa' cpb' length = distVec cqa' cqb' area' = min area $ length * width solve :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => [ Point a ] -> a solve [] = 0 solve [ p ] = 0 solve [ p1 , p2 ] = 0 solve [ p1 , p2 , p3 ] = 0 solve arr = rotCal arr' 0 [ pa , pb , qa , qb ] [ cpa , cpb , cqa , cqb ] area n where y1 = minimumBy ( on compare fN1 ) arr y2 = maximumBy ( on compare fN1 ) arr x1 = minimumBy ( on compare fN2 ) arr x2 = maximumBy ( on compare fN2 ) arr pa = fromJust . findIndex ( == y1 ) $ arr pb = fromJust . findIndex ( == y2 ) $ arr qa = fromJust . findIndex ( == x1 ) $ arr qb = fromJust . findIndex ( == x2 ) $ arr cpa = V 1 0 cpb = V ( -1 ) 0 cqa = V 0 ( -1 ) cqb = V 0 1 area = 1e9 n = length arr arr' = listArray ( 0 , n ) arr fN1 ( P x y ) = y fN2 ( P x y ) = x --end of rotating caliper final :: ( Num a , Ord a , Floating a ) => [ Point a ] -> a final [] = 0 final [ p ] = 0 final [ p1 , p2 ] = 0 final [ p1 , p2 , p3 ] = 0 final arr = solve . convexHull $ arr