“Connect some points into a convex polygon such that all of the remaining points are inside that convex polygon. The algorithm that will find it for me is called the Graham Scan Algorithm (actually invented by Ronald Graham),” Simon told me as he printed out a sheet dotted with points. He had also prepared some paper cards with numbers on them. “In general, a Convex Hull is the smallest set (in this case, of points) that contains your original set”.
In the video, Simon manually applies the Graham Scan Algorithm (using the print-out, a protractor and paper cards to create a stack). He measured the angles between the P point and the rest of the points and sorted them (“If you want to do this, you can use any sorting algorithm,” Simon adds).
Simon first learned about the algorithm from a Visualgo visualization but that resource didn’t explain how the algorithm actually works, so he looked it up on Wikipedia.
Simon got his set of points from this site.
Busy with the same algorithm during the Easter break at the summer house:
Geeks out of the box 