Paper cut algorithm - algorithm

Question

I want to create a function to determine the most number of pieces of paper on a parent paper size
The formula above is still not optimal. If using the above formula will only produce at most 32 cut/sheet.
I want it like below.

Answer 1

This seems to be a very difficult problem to solve optimally. See http://lagrange.ime.usp.br/~lobato/packing/ for a discussion of a 2008 paper claiming that the problem is believed (but not proven) to be NP-hard. The researchers found some approximation algorithms and implemented them on that website.

Answer 2

The following solution uses Top-Down Dynamic Programming to find optimal solutions to this problem. I am providing this solution in C#, which shouldn't be too hard to convert into the language of your choice (or whatever style of pseudocode you prefer). I have tested this solution on your specific example and it completes in less than a second (I'm not sure how much less than a second).
It should be noted that this solution assumes that only guillotine cuts are allowed. This is a common restriction for real-world 2D Stock-Cutting applications and it greatly simplifies the solution complexity. However, CS, Math and other programming problems often allow all types of cutting, so in that case this solution would not necessarily find the optimal solution (but it would still provide a better heuristic answer than your current formula).
First, we need a value-structure to represent the size of the starting stock, the desired rectangle(s) and of the pieces cut from the stock (this needs to be a value-type because it will be used as the key to our memoization cache and other collections, and we need to to compare the actual values rather than an object reference address):
public struct Vector2D
{
public int X;
public int Y;
public Vector2D(int x, int y)
{
X = x;
Y = y;
}
}
Here is the main method to be called. Note that all values need to be in integers, for the specific case above this just means multiplying everything by 100. These methods here require integers, but are otherwise are scale-invariant so multiplying by 100 or 1000 or whatever won't affect performance (just make sure that the values don't overflow an int).
public int SolveMaxCount1R(Vector2D Parent, Vector2D Item)
{
// make a list to hold both the item size and its rotation
List<Vector2D> itemSizes = new List<Vector2D>();
itemSizes.Add(Item);
if (Item.X != Item.Y)
{
itemSizes.Add(new Vector2D(Item.Y, Item.X));
}
int solution = SolveGeneralMaxCount(Parent, itemSizes.ToArray());
return solution;
}
Here is an example of how you would call this method with your parameter values. In this case I have assumed that all of the solution methods are part of a class called SolverClass:
SolverClass solver = new SolverClass();
int count = solver.SolveMaxCount1R(new Vector2D(2500, 3800), new Vector2D(425, 550));
//(all units are in tenths of a millimeter to make everything integers)
The main method calls a general solver method for this type of problem (that is not restricted to just one size rectangle and its rotation):
public int SolveGeneralMaxCount(Vector2D Parent, Vector2D[] ItemSizes)
{
// determine the maximum x and y scaling factors using GCDs (Greastest
// Common Divisor)
List<int> xValues = new List<int>();
List<int> yValues = new List<int>();
foreach (Vector2D size in ItemSizes)
{
xValues.Add(size.X);
yValues.Add(size.Y);
}
xValues.Add(Parent.X);
yValues.Add(Parent.Y);
int xScale = NaturalNumbers.GCD(xValues);
int yScale = NaturalNumbers.GCD(yValues);
// rescale our parameters
Vector2D parent = new Vector2D(Parent.X / xScale, Parent.Y / yScale);
var baseShapes = new Dictionary<Vector2D, Vector2D>();
foreach (var size in ItemSizes)
{
var reducedSize = new Vector2D(size.X / xScale, size.Y / yScale);
baseShapes.Add(reducedSize, reducedSize);
}
//determine the minimum values that an allowed item shape can fit into
_xMin = int.MaxValue;
_yMin = int.MaxValue;
foreach (var size in baseShapes.Keys)
{
if (size.X < _xMin) _xMin = size.X;
if (size.Y < _yMin) _yMin = size.Y;
}
// create the memoization cache for shapes
Dictionary<Vector2D, SizeCount> shapesCache = new Dictionary<Vector2D, SizeCount>();
// find the solution pattern with the most finished items
int best = solveGMC(shapesCache, baseShapes, parent);
return best;
}
private int _xMin;
private int _yMin;
The general solution method calls a recursive worker method that does most of the actual work.
private int solveGMC(
Dictionary<Vector2D, SizeCount> shapeCache,
Dictionary<Vector2D, Vector2D> baseShapes,
Vector2D sheet )
{
// have we already solved this size?
if (shapeCache.ContainsKey(sheet)) return shapeCache[sheet].ItemCount;
SizeCount item = new SizeCount(sheet, 0);
if ((sheet.X < _xMin) || (sheet.Y < _yMin))
{
// if it's too small in either dimension then this is a scrap piece
item.ItemCount = 0;
}
else // try every way of cutting this sheet (guillotine cuts only)
{
int child0;
int child1;
// try every size of horizontal guillotine cut
for (int c = sheet.X / 2; c > 0; c--)
{
child0 = solveGMC(shapeCache, baseShapes, new Vector2D(c, sheet.Y));
child1 = solveGMC(shapeCache, baseShapes, new Vector2D(sheet.X - c, sheet.Y));
if (child0 + child1 > item.ItemCount)
{
item.ItemCount = child0 + child1;
}
}
// try every size of vertical guillotine cut
for (int c = sheet.Y / 2; c > 0; c--)
{
child0 = solveGMC(shapeCache, baseShapes, new Vector2D(sheet.X, c));
child1 = solveGMC(shapeCache, baseShapes, new Vector2D(sheet.X, sheet.Y - c));
if (child0 + child1 > item.ItemCount)
{
item.ItemCount = child0 + child1;
}
}
// if no children returned finished items, then the sheet is
// either scrap or a finished item itself
if (item.ItemCount == 0)
{
if (baseShapes.ContainsKey(item.Size))
{
item.ItemCount = 1;
}
else
{
item.ItemCount = 0;
}
}
}
// add the item to the cache before we return it
shapeCache.Add(item.Size, item);
return item.ItemCount;
}
Finally, the general solution method uses a GCD function to rescale the dimensions to achieve scale-invariance. This is implemented in a static class called NaturalNumbers. I have included the rlevant parts of this class below:
static class NaturalNumbers
{
/// <summary>
/// Returns the Greatest Common Divisor of two natural numbers.
/// Returns Zero if either number is Zero,
/// Returns One if either number is One and both numbers are >Zero
/// </summary>
public static int GCD(int a, int b)
{
if ((a == 0) || (b == 0)) return 0;
if (a >= b)
return gcd_(a, b);
else
return gcd_(b, a);
}
/// <summary>
/// Returns the Greatest Common Divisor of a list of natural numbers.
/// (Note: will run fastest if the list is in ascending order)
/// </summary>
public static int GCD(IEnumerable<int> numbers)
{
// parameter checks
if (numbers == null || numbers.Count() == 0) return 0;
int first = numbers.First();
if (first <= 1) return 0;
int g = (int)first;
if (g <= 1) return g;
int i = 0;
foreach (int n in numbers)
{
if (i == 0)
g = n;
else
g = GCD(n, g);
if (g <= 1) return g;
i++;
}
return g;
}
// Euclidian method with Euclidian Division,
// From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_algorithm
private static int gcd_(int a, int b)
{
while (b != 0)
{
int t = b;
b = (a % b);
a = t;
}
return a;
}
}
Please let me know of any problems or questions you might have with this solution.
Oops, forgot that I was also using this class:
public class SizeCount
{
public Vector2D Size;
public int ItemCount;
public SizeCount(Vector2D itemSize, int itemCount)
{
Size = itemSize;
ItemCount = itemCount;
}
}
As I mentioned in the comments, it would actually be pretty easy to factor this class out of the code, but it's still in there right now.