English

Almost and Approximate EFX for Few Types of Agents

Computer Science and Game Theory 2025-08-22 v1 Data Structures and Algorithms

Abstract

We study the problem of fair allocation of a set of indivisible goods among nn agents with kk distinct additive valuations, with the goal of achieving approximate envy-freeness up to any good (αEFX\alpha-\mathrm{EFX}). It is known that EFX allocations exist for nn agents when there are at most three distinct valuations due to HV et al. Furthermore, Amanatidis et al. showed that a 23EFX\frac{2}{3}-\mathrm{EFX} allocation is guaranteed to exist when number of agents is at most seven. In this paper, we show that a 23EFX\frac{2}{3}-\mathrm{EFX} allocation exists for any number of agents when there are at most four distinct valuations. Secondly, we consider a relaxation called EFX\mathrm{EFX} with charity, where some goods remain unallocated such that no agent envies the set of unallocated goods. Akrami et al. showed that for nn agents and any ε(0,12]\varepsilon \in \left(0, \frac{1}{2}\right], there exists a (1ε)EFX(1-\varepsilon)-\mathrm{EFX} allocation with at most O~((n/ε)12)\tilde{\mathcal{O}}((n/\varepsilon)^{\frac{1}{2}}) goods to charity. In this paper, we show that a (1ε)EFX(1-\varepsilon)-\mathrm{EFX} allocation with a O~(k/ε)12\tilde{\mathcal{O}}(k/\varepsilon)^{\frac{1}{2}} charity exists for any number of agents when there are at most kk distinct valuations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.15380,
  title  = {Almost and Approximate EFX for Few Types of Agents},
  author = {Vishwa Prakash HV and Ruta Mehta and Prajakta Nimbhorkar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.15380},
  year   = {2025}
}