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This paper considers an optimization problem for a dynamical system whose evolution depends on a collection of binary decision variables. We develop scalable approximation algorithms with provable suboptimality bounds to provide…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-10-31 Insoon Yang , Samuel A. Burden , Ram Rajagopal , S. Shankar Sastry , Claire J. Tomlin

The aim of this paper is to present an elementary computable theory of random variables, based on the approach to probability via valuations. The theory is based on a type of lower-measurable sets, which are controlled limits of open sets,…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2021-01-05 Pieter Collins

We first show a simple but striking result in bilevel optimization: unconstrained $C^\infty$ smooth bilevel programming is as hard as general extended-real-valued lower semicontinuous minimization. We then proceed to a worst-case analysis…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2025-01-29 Jérôme Bolte , Quoc-Tung Le , Edouard Pauwels , Samuel Vaiter

Probabilistic programs encode stochastic models as ordinary-looking programs with primitives for sampling numbers from predefined distributions and conditioning. Their applications include, among many others, machine learning and modeling…

Formal Languages and Automata Theory · Computer Science 2025-12-16 Dominik Geißler , Tobias Winkler

Probabilistic Logic Programming is an effective formalism for encoding problems characterized by uncertainty. Some of these problems may require the optimization of probability values subject to constraints among probability distributions…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2023-06-22 Damiano Azzolini , Fabrizio Riguzzi

We study the computational complexity of approximating general constrained Markov decision processes. Our primary contribution is the design of a polynomial time $(0,\epsilon)$-additive bicriteria approximation algorithm for finding optimal…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-02-12 Jeremy McMahan

In this paper, we introduce a method for approximating the solution to inference and optimization tasks in uncertain and deterministic reasoning. Such tasks are in general intractable for exact algorithms because of the large number of…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2012-12-12 David Ephraim Larkin

Auto-active program verification rests on the ability to effectively the translation from annotated programs into verification conditions that are then discharged by automated theorem provers in the background. Characteristic such tools,…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2026-02-12 Gidon Ernst

Regression problems with bounded continuous outcomes frequently arise in real-world statistical and machine learning applications, such as the analysis of rates and proportions. A central challenge in this setting is predicting a response…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-07-21 Zhanli Wu , Fabrizio Leisen , F. Javier Rubio

We derive new upper and lower bounds for probabilities that $r$ or at least $r$ from $n$ events occur. These bounds can turn to equalities. The method is discussed as well. It works for measurable space and measures with sign, too. We also…

Probability · Mathematics 2020-08-12 Andrei N. Frolov

Testing algorithms across a wide range of problem instances is crucial to ensure the validity of any claim about one algorithm's superiority over another. However, when it comes to inference algorithms for probabilistic logic programs,…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2020-09-14 Paulius Dilkas , Vaishak Belle

We study weighted programming, a programming paradigm for specifying mathematical models. More specifically, the weighted programs we investigate are like usual imperative programs with two additional features: (1) nondeterministic…

Programming Languages · Computer Science 2022-04-01 Kevin Batz , Adrian Gallus , Benjamin Lucien Kaminski , Joost-Pieter Katoen , Tobias Winkler

Variational methods are employed in situations where exact Bayesian inference becomes intractable due to the difficulty in performing certain integrals. Typically, variational methods postulate a tractable posterior and formulate a lower…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2019-06-12 Nikolaos Gianniotis , Christoph Schnörr , Christian Molkenthin , Sanjay Singh Bora

We use the martingale-theoretic approach of game-theoretic probability to incorporate imprecision into the study of randomness. In particular, we define a notion of computable randomness associated with interval, rather than precise,…

Probability · Mathematics 2017-05-05 Gert de Cooman , Jasper De Bock

Stochastic inverse problems considered in this article consist of estimating the probability distributions of intrinsically random inputs of computer models. These estimations are based on observable outputs affected by model noise, and…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2025-03-17 Nicolas Bousquet , Mélanie Blazère , Thomas Cerbelaud

The problem of determining whether a probabilistic program terminates almost surely (i.e.~with probability one) is undecidable, and actually $\Pi^0_2$-complete. For this reason, a growing literature has explored classes of programs for…

Logic in Computer Science · Computer Science 2026-05-01 Ugo Dal Lago , Guido Fiorillo , Paolo Pistone

A framework to boost the efficiency of Bayesian inference in probabilistic programs is introduced by embedding a sampler inside a variational posterior approximation. We call it the refined variational approximation. Its strength lies both…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-02-25 Victor Gallego , David Rios Insua

We consider finite horizon Markov decision processes under performance measures that involve both the mean and the variance of the cumulative reward. We show that either randomized or history-based policies can improve performance. We prove…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2011-05-02 Shie Mannor , John Tsitsiklis

Probabilistic programs are typically normal-looking programs describing posterior probability distributions. They intrinsically code up randomized algorithms and have long been at the heart of modern machine learning and approximate…

Programming Languages · Computer Science 2023-02-14 Lutz Klinkenberg , Tobias Winkler , Mingshuai Chen , Joost-Pieter Katoen

Unbiased and consistent variance estimators generally do not exist for design-based treatment effect estimators because experimenters never observe more than one potential outcome for any unit. The problem is exacerbated by interference and…

Methodology · Statistics 2024-07-04 Christopher Harshaw , Joel A. Middleton , Fredrik Sävje