Spira's Theorems on Complete Linear Proofs of Systems of Linear Inequalities.

Motivated by questions of computational complexity, Rabin [7] introduced the notion of a complete proof of a system of inequalities. His work and the related paper of Spira [8] should interest geometers as well as computer scientists, for both papers involve convexity in an essential way. Spira's results concern the possibility of covering the intersection of a convex set C and a convex polyhedron Q with a finite collection P of polyhedra subject to certain conditions, while in Rabin's work the members of P may be more general than polyhedra. Both papers are interesting and treat important questions, but only Rabin's paper is correct in all respects. The present note contains counterexamples to some of Spira's results and establishes a correct version of one of them.