Re: Optimizing cutting paths, was Traveling Salesman Joke

To list,

One "Travelling Salesman Corollary" is that the ideal path will
have no diagonal crossovers.

Imagine drilling four holes in the shape of a square. One possible
path is a rectangular O shape, another is an X. The O is always
fastest, and this can be generalized formally into a "no crossover"
theorem for the problem, no matter how complex the pattern.

So, if you've got lots of holes to drill, say in a grid pattern
with some members missing (as in PC drilling), a good 80/20 strategy
is to scan the rows left to right while indexing and drill.

I only know this because my brother worked quite hard on the TS
problem for his math degree, and shared some of his findings. Good
luck with your projects!

Dave Kowalczyk
Seattle WA
shameless web plug --> http://www.dakeng.com