English

Optimized random chemistry

Probability 2013-02-19 v2 Combinatorics

Abstract

The random chemistry algorithm of Kauffman can be used to determine an unknown subset S of a fixed set V. The algorithm proceeds by zeroing in on S through a succession of nested subsets V=V_0,V_1,...,V_m=S. In Kauffman's original algorithm, the size of each V_i is chosen to be half the size of V_{i-1}. In this paper we determine the optimal sequence of sizes so as to minimize the expected run time of the algorithm.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1302.2895,
  title  = {Optimized random chemistry},
  author = {Jeffrey S. Buzas and Gregory S. Warrington},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1302.2895},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures; added one reference, minor typos fixed

R2 v1 2026-06-21T23:25:00.690Z