Related papers: Solution of Peter Winkler's Pizza Problem
In this paper we consider a splitting method for the augmented Burgers equation and prove that it is of first order. We also analyze the large-time behavior of the approximated solution by obtaining the first term in the asymptotic…
A basic combinatorial interpretation of Shannon's entropy function is via the "20 questions" game. This cooperative game is played by two players, Alice and Bob: Alice picks a distribution $\pi$ over the numbers $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, and…
The payoff in the Chow-Robbins coin-tossing game is the proportion of heads when you stop. Knowing when to stop to maximize expectation was addressed by Chow and Robbins(1965), who proved there exist integers ${k_n}$ such that it is optimal…
We consider a game with two piles, in which two players take turn to add $a$ or $b$ chips ($a$, $b$ are not necessarily positive) randomly and independently to their respective piles. The player who collects $n$ chips first wins the game.…
This article considers a problem arising from a two-player game based on the classical secretary problem. First, Player 1 selects one object from a sequence as in the secretary problem. All of the other objects are then presented to Player…
We consider the problem of maximizing the probability of hitting a strategically chosen hidden virtual network by placing a wiretap on a single link of a communication network. This can be seen as a two-player win-lose (zero-sum) game that…
We consider the following simple game: We are given a table with ten slots indexed one to ten. In each of the ten rounds of the game, three dice are rolled and the numbers are added. We then put this number into any free slot. For each…
Ann likes oranges much more than apples; Bob likes apples much more than oranges. Tomorrow they will receive one fruit that will be an orange or an apple with equal probability. Giving one half to each agent is fair for each realization of…
Relying on configuration spaces and equivariant topology, we study a general "cooperative envy-free division problem". A group of players want to cut a "cake" $I=[0,1]$ and divide among themselves the pieces in an envy-free manner. Once the…
Consider a distribution of pebbles on a graph. A pebbling move removes two pebbles from a vertex and place one at an adjacent vertex. A vertex is reachable under a pebble distribution if it has a pebble after the application of a sequence…
We consider the classic problem of fairly dividing a heterogeneous good ("cake") among several agents with different valuations. Classic cake-cutting procedures either allocate each agent a collection of disconnected pieces, or assume that…
We present a formalism that captures the process of proving quantum superiority to skeptics as an interactive game between two agents, supervised by a referee. Bob, is sampling from a classical distribution on a quantum device that is…
We introduce a model involving two adversaries Buster and Fixer taking turns modifying a connected graph, where each round consists of Buster deleting a subset of edges and Fixer responding by adding edges from a finite reserve set of…
We consider "surrounding" versions of the classic Cops and Robber game. The game is played on a connected graph in which two players, one controlling a number of cops and the other controlling a robber, take alternating turns. In a turn,…
Given a point (the "spider") on a rectangular box, we would like to find the minimal distance along the surface to its opposite point (the "fly" - the reflection of the spider across the center of the box). Without loss of generality, we…
Subset take-away is a two-player game involving a fixed finite set A. Players alternate choosing a proper, non-empty subset of A, with the condition that one may not name a set containing a set that was named earlier. A player unable to…
We introduce CUT, the class of 2-player partition games. These are NIM type games, played on a finite number of heaps of beans. The rules are given by a set of positive integers, which specifies the number of allowed splits a player can…
Let G be a graph with a distribution of pebbles on its vertices. A pebbling move consists of removing two pebbles from one vertex and placing one pebble on an adjacent vertex. The optimal pebbling number of G is the smallest number of…
Flip a coin repeatedly, and stop whenever you want. Your payoff is the proportion of heads, and you wish to maximize this payoff in expectation. This so-called Chow-Robbins game is amenable to computer analysis, but while simple-minded…
We consider a game in which a cop searches for a moving robber on a graph using distance probes, which is a slight variation on one introduced by Seager. Carragher, Choi, Delcourt, Erickson and West showed that for any n-vertex graph $G$…