Related papers: Collecting Coupons with Random Initial Stake
Suppose we have a memory storing $0$s and $1$s and we want to estimate the frequency of $1$s by sampling. We want to do this I/O-efficiently, exploiting that each read gives a block of $B$ bits at unit cost; not just one bit. If the input…
Based upon inequalities on Subset Probabilities, proofs of several conjectures on the Generalized Coupon Collector Problem (i.e. CCP with unequal popularity) are presented. Then we derive a very simple asymptotic relation between the…
We study the space requirements of a sorting algorithm where only items that at the end will be adjacent are kept together. This is equivalent to the following combinatorial problem: Consider a string of fixed length n that starts as a…
We formulate and study a statistical version of Katona's two-round search problem of finding at least one excellent element in a set. A population of $n$ elements is considered, where each element is independently excellent with probability…
We extend the Coupon Collector's Problem (CCP) and present a novel generalized model, referred as the k-LCCP problem, where one is interested in recovering a bipartite graph with a perfect matching, which represents the coupons and their…
We consider the following combinatorial search problem: we are given some excellent elements of $[n]$ and we should find at least one, asking questions of the following type: "Is there an excellent element in $A \subset [n]$?". G.O.H.…
The embedding problem of Markov transition matrices into continuous-time Markov semigroups is a classic problem that regained a lot of impetus and activities in recent years. We consider it here for the following generalisation of the…
Let $\pi_n$ be a uniformly chosen random permutation on $[n]$. Using an analysis of the probability that two overlapping consecutive $k$-permutations are order isomorphic, we show that the expected number of distinct consecutive patterns in…
You play the following game: you start out with $n$ coins that all have probability $p$ to land heads. You toss all of them and you then need to set aside at least one of them, which will not be tossed again. Now you repeat the process with…
A Fibonacci heap is a deterministic data structure implementing a priority queue with optimal amortized operation costs. An unfortunate aspect of Fibonacci heaps is that they must maintain a "mark bit" which serves only to ensure efficiency…
Randomized mechanisms, which map a set of bids to a probability distribution over outcomes rather than a single outcome, are an important but ill-understood area of computational mechanism design. We investigate the role of randomized…
To support a freight carrier in a combinatorial transport auction, we proposes an exact and two heuristic strategies for bidding on subsets of requests. The exact bidding strategy is based on the concept of elementary request combinations.…
A simple problem is studied in which there are N boxes and a prize known to be in one of the boxes. Furthermore, the probability that the prize is in any box is given. It is desired to find the prize with minimal expected work, where it…
We examine sorting algorithms for $n$ elements whose basic operation is comparing $t$ elements simultaneously (a $t$-comparator). We focus on algorithms that use only a single round or two rounds -- comparisons performed in the second round…
We consider a game played between a hider, who hides a static object in one of several possible positions in a bounded planar region, and a searcher, who wishes to reach the object by querying sensors placed in the plane. The searcher is a…
Consider the following one player game. A deck containing $m$ copies of $n$ different card types is shuffled uniformly at random. Each round the player tries to guess the next card in the deck, and then the card is revealed and discarded.…
When people pursue rewards in stochastic environments, they often match their choice frequencies to the observed target frequencies, even when this policy is demonstrably sub-optimal. We used a ``hide and seek'' task to evaluate this…
The present era of quantum processors with hundreds to thousands of noisy qubits has sparked interest in understanding the computational power of these devices and how to leverage it to solve practically relevant problems. For applications…
Consider a decision maker who is responsible to dynamically collect observations so as to enhance his information about an underlying phenomena of interest in a speedy manner while accounting for the penalty of wrong declaration. Due to the…
We consider the \emph{approximate minimum selection} problem in presence of \emph{independent random comparison faults}. This problem asks to select one of the smallest $k$ elements in a linearly-ordered collection of $n$ elements by only…