English

Generalizing parking functions with randomness

Combinatorics 2021-11-29 v1 Probability

Abstract

Consider nn cars C1,C2,,CnC_1, C_2, \ldots, C_n that want to park in a parking lot with parking spaces 1,2,,n1,2,\ldots,n that appear in order. Each car CiC_i has a parking preference αi{1,2,,n}\alpha_i \in \{1,2,\ldots,n\}. The cars appear in order, if their preferred parking spot is not taken, they take it, if the parking spot is taken, they move forward until they find an empty spot. If they do not find an empty spot, they do not park. An nn-tuple (α1,α2,,αn)(\alpha_1, \alpha_2, \ldots, \alpha_n) is said to be a parking function, if this list of preferences allows every car to park under this algorithm. For an integer kk, we say that an nn-tuple is a kk-Naples parking function if the cars can park with the modified algorithm, where park CiC_i backs up kk-spaces (one by one) if their spot is taken before trying to find a parking spot in front of them. We introduce randomness to this problem in two ways: 1) For the original parking function definition, for each car CiC_i that has their preference taken, we decide with probability pp whether CiC_i moves forwards or backwards when their preferred spot is taken; 2) For the kk-Naples definition, for each car CiC_i that has their preference taken, we decide with probability pp whether CiC_i backs up kk spaces or not before moving forward. In each of these models, for an nn-tuple α{1,2,,n}n\alpha\in\{1,2,\ldots,n\}^n, there is now a probability that the model ends in all cars parking or not. For each of these random models, we find a formula for the expected value. Furthermore, for the second random model, in the case k=1k =1, p=1/2p=1/2, we prove that for any 1t2n21\le t\le 2^{n-2}, there is exactly one α{1,2,,n}n\alpha\in\{1,2,\ldots,n\}^n such that the probability that α\alpha parks is (2t1)/2n1(2t-1)/2^{n-1}.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2111.12850,
  title  = {Generalizing parking functions with randomness},
  author = {Melanie Tian and Enrique Treviño},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.12850},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-24T07:51:31.601Z