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We revisit the random allocation model in which $n$ balls are independently placed into $N$ boxes with probabilities $q_1,\ldots,q_N$. A classical asymptotic result due to Kolchin, Sevastyanov, and Chistyakov for the expectations,…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-04-28 Serik Sagitov

We consider the allocation of $m$ balls (jobs) into $n$ bins (servers). In the standard Two-Choice process, at each step $t=1,2,\ldots,m$ we first sample two bins uniformly at random and place a ball in the least loaded bin. It is…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2023-01-25 Dimitrios Los , Thomas Sauerwald , John Sylvester

Balls-and-bins games have been a wildly successful tool for modeling load balancing problems. In this paper, we study a new scenario, which we call the ball recycling game, defined as follows: Throw m balls into n bins i.i.d. according to a…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-11-05 Michael A. Bender , Jake Christensen , Alex Conway , Martín Farach-Colton , Rob Johnson , Meng-Tsung Tsai

Consider the following process whereby $n$ balls are distributed into $k$ bins. Repeatedly, a ball is removed from a non-empty bin chosen uniformly at random. The process ends when a single non-empty bin remains. Will Ma…

Probability · Mathematics 2026-02-16 Jose Correa , Marcos Kiwi , Vasilis Livanos , Eilon Solan , Ron Solan

We consider an infinite balls-into-bins process with deletions where in each discrete step $t$ a coin is tossed as to whether, with probability $\beta(t) \in (0,1)$, a new ball is allocated using the Greedy[2] strategy (which places the…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2025-10-17 Petra Berenbrink , Tom Friedetzky , Peter Kling , Lars Nagel

Food waste and food insecurity are two closely related pressing global issues. Food rescue organizations worldwide run programs aimed at addressing the two problems. In this paper, we partner with a non-profit organization in the state of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-06-11 Marios Mertzanidis , Alexandros Psomas , Paritosh Verma

We find the asymptotic total variation distance between two distributions on configurations of m balls in n labeled bins: in the first, each ball is placed in a bin uniformly at random; in the second, k balls are planted in an arbitrary but…

Probability · Mathematics 2012-05-16 William Perkins

We analyze the asymptotic properties of a Euclidean optimization problem on the plane. Specifically, we consider a network with three bins and $n$ objects spatially uniformly distributed, each object being allocated to a bin at a cost…

Probability · Mathematics 2010-12-22 Charles Bordenave , Giovanni Luca Torrisi

We propose a sorting-based greedy algorithm called SortedGreedy[m] for approximately solving the offline version of the d-choice weighted balls-into-bins problem where the number of choices for each ball is equal to the number of bins. We…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2013-04-11 Ömer Demirel , Ivo F. Sbalzarini

We consider the problem of evaluating designs for a two-arm randomized experiment with the criterion being the power of the randomization test for the one-sided null hypothesis. Our evaluation assumes a response that is linear in one…

Methodology · Statistics 2020-08-14 Abba M. Krieger , David Azriel , Michael Sklar , Adam Kapelner

Load balancing is a well-studied problem, with balls-in-bins being the primary framework. The greedy algorithm $\mathsf{Greedy}[d]$ of Azar et al. places each ball by probing $d > 1$ random bins and placing the ball in the least loaded of…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-01-24 John Augustine , William K. Moses , Amanda Redlich , Eli Upfal

The power of two choices is a classic paradigm for load balancing when assigning $m$ balls to $n$ bins. When placing a ball, we pick two bins according to two hash functions $h_0$ and $h_1$, and place the ball in the least loaded bin.…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-01-26 Søren Dahlgaard , Mathias Bæk Tejs Knudsen , Eva Rotenberg , Mikkel Thorup

In the classical balls-and-bins paradigm, where $n$ balls are placed independently and uniformly in $n$ bins, typically the number of bins with at least two balls in them is $\Theta(n)$ and the maximum number of balls in a bin is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2010-10-22 Noga Alon , Ori Gurel-Gurevich , Eyal Lubetzky

Allocation of balls into bins is a well studied abstraction for load balancing problems.The literature hosts numerous results for sequential(single dimensional) allocation case when m balls are thrown into n bins. In this paper we study the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2011-11-30 Ankur Narang , Sourav Dutta , Souvik Bhattacherjee

We consider the following balls-into-bins process with $n$ bins and $m$ balls: each ball is equipped with a mutually independent exponential clock of rate 1. Whenever a ball's clock rings, the ball samples a random bin and moves there if…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2017-07-03 Petra Berenbrink , Peter Kling , Christopher Liaw , Abbas Mehrabian

We explore the fundamental limits of distributed balls-into-bins algorithms. We present an adaptive symmetric algorithm that achieves a bin load of two in log* n+O(1) communication rounds using O(n) messages in total. Larger bin loads can…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2011-03-01 Christoph Lenzen , Roger Wattenhofer

The Bin Packing Problem involves efficiently packing items into a limited number of bins without exceeding their capacity. In this paper, we try to answer a specific question in this field. Mathematically the combinatorial optimization…

General Mathematics · Mathematics 2025-08-25 Angshuman Robin Goswami

In a balancing network each processor has an initial collection of unit-size jobs (tokens) and in each round, pairs of processors connected by balancers split their load as evenly as possible. An excess token (if any) is placed according to…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2010-06-09 Tobias Friedrich , Thomas Sauerwald , Dan Vilenchik

This paper explores the distribution of indistinguishable balls into distinct urns with varying capacity constraints, a foundational issue in combinatorial mathematics with applications across various disciplines. We present a comprehensive…

Probability · Mathematics 2025-02-07 Jingwei Li , Thomas G. Robertazzi

We provide a relatively simple proof that the expected gap between the maximum load and the average load in the two choice process is bounded by $(1+o(1))\log \log n$, irrespective of the number of balls thrown. The theorem was first proven…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2013-10-22 Kunal Talwar , Udi Wieder