Related papers: How long does it take to catch a wild kangaroo?
Most hash tables have an insertion time of $O(1)$, possibly qualified as expected and/or amortised. While insertions into cuckoo hash tables indeed seem to take $O(1)$ expected time in practice, only polylogarithmic guarantees are proven in…
We describe an exact algorithm for finding the best 2-OPT move which, experimentally, was observed to be much faster than the standard quadratic approach. To analyze its average-case complexity, we introduce a family of heuristic procedures…
Consider the following generalization of the classic binary search problem: a searcher is required to find a hidden vertex $x$ in a tree $T$. To do so, they iteratively perform queries to an oracle, each about a chosen vertex $v$. After…
We give a simple algorithm that determines whether a given post-critically finite topological polynomial is Thurston equivalent to a polynomial. If it is, the algorithm produces the Hubbard tree; otherwise, the algorithm produces the…
In multiple time-scale (singularly perturbed) dynamical systems, canards are counterintuitive solutions that evolve along both attracting and repelling invariant manifolds. In two dimensions, canards result in periodic oscillations whose…
This paper considers the problem of constructing a confidence sequence, which is a sequence of confidence intervals that hold uniformly over time, for estimating the mean of bounded real-valued random processes. This paper revisits the…
Consider a database of $n$ people, each represented by a bit-string of length $d$ corresponding to the setting of $d$ binary attributes. A $k$-way marginal query is specified by a subset $S$ of $k$ attributes, and a $|S|$-dimensional binary…
We analyze canard explosions in delayed differential equations with a one-dimensional slow manifold. This study is applied to explore the dynamics of the van der Pol slow-fast system with delayed self-coupling. In the absence of delays,…
In this paper we furnish quality certificates for the Divide-and-Conquer method solving the 0-1 Knapsack Problem: the worst case scenario and estimates for the expected performance. The probabilistic setting is given and the main random…
In this paper we deal with the classical problem of random cover times. We investigate the distribution of the time it takes for a Poisson process of cylinders to cover a set $A \subset \mathbb{R}^d.$ This Poisson process of cylinders is…
We study discounted random walks in directed graphs. In each step, the walk either terminates with a constant probability $\alpha$, or proceeds to a random out-neighbor. Our goal is to estimate the probability $\pi(s, t)$ that a discounted…
We pose a new and intriguing question motivated by distributed computing regarding random walks on graphs: How long does it take for several independent random walks, starting from the same vertex, to cover an entire graph? We study the…
We develop a biased Monte Carlo algorithm to measure probabilities of rare events in cluster-cluster aggregation for arbitrary collision kernels. Given a trajectory with a fixed number of collisions, the algorithm modifies both the waiting…
We bound the time it takes for a group of birds to reach steady state in a standard flocking model. We prove that (i) within single exponential time fragmentation ceases and each bird settles on a fixed flying direction; (ii) the flocking…
We establish via a probabilistic approach the quenched invariance principle for a class of long range random walks in independent (but not necessarily identically distributed) balanced random environments, with the transition probability…
We consider multi-armed bandit problems in social groups wherein each individual has bounded memory and shares the common goal of learning the best arm/option. We say an individual learns the best option if eventually (as $t \to \infty$) it…
A collection of identical and independent rare event first passage times is considered. The problem of finding the fastest out of $N$ such events to occur is called an extreme first passage time. The rare event times are singular and limit…
We study a generalized binary search problem on the line and general trees. On the line (e.g., a sorted array), binary search finds a target node in $O(\log n)$ queries in the worst case, where $n$ is the number of nodes. In situations with…
Given a hierarchical plan (or schedule) with uncertain task times, we propose a deterministic polynomial (time and memory) algorithm for estimating the probability that its meets a deadline, or, alternately, that its {\em makespan} is less…
Given a large positive integer $N$, how quickly can one construct a prime number larger than $N$ (or between $N$ and 2N)? Using probabilistic methods, one can obtain a prime number in time at most $\log^{O(1)} N$ with high probability by…