An O(n log log n)-Time Algorithm for Triangulating a Simple Polygon

Given a simple n-vertex polygon, the triangulation problem is to partition the interior of the polygon into n-2 triangles by adding n-3 nonintersecting diagonals. We propose an O(n log logn)-time algorithm for this problem, improving on the previously best bound of O (n log n) and showing that triangu-lation is not as hard as sorting. Improved algorithms for several other computational geometry problems, including testing whether a polygon is simple, follow from our result.