Related papers: Dreidel Fairness Study
For any odd integer $n\geq3$ a board (of size $n$) is a square array of $n\times n$ positions with a simple rule of how to move between positions. The goal of the game we introduce is to find a path from the upper left corner of a board to…
We study, in various special cases, total distributions on the product of a finite collection of finite probability spaces and, in particular, the question of when the probability distribution of each factor space is determined by the total…
In this paper, we consider the Santa Claus problem in the CONGEST model. This NP-hard problem can be modeled as a bipartite graph of children and gifts where an edge indicates that a child desires a gift. Notably, each gift can have a…
We consider a repeated game where a player self-reports her usage of a service and is charged a payment accordingly by a center. The center observes a partial signal, representing part of the player's true consumption, which is generated…
We discuss coin-weighing problems with a new type of coin: a chameleon. A chameleon coin can mimic a fake or a real coin, and it can choose which coin to mimic for each weighing independently. We consider a mix of $N$ coins that include…
We construct games of chance from simpler games of chance. We show that it may happen that the simpler games of chance are fair or unfavourable to a player andyet the new combined game is favourable -- this is a counter-intuitive…
Measurement professionals cannot come to an agreement on the definition of the term 'item fairness'. In this paper a continuous measure of item unfairness is proposed. The more the unfairness measure deviates from zero, the less fair the…
Finding a counterfeit coin with the different weight from a set of visually identical coin using a balance, usually a two-armed balance, known as the balance question, is an intersting and inspiring question. Its variants involve…
We introduce and analyze several variations of Penney's game aimed to find a more equitable game.
Given an edge-colored graph, the goal of the proportional fair matching problem is to find a maximum weight matching while ensuring proportional representation (with respect to the number of edges) of each color. The colors may correspond…
We discuss games involving a counterfeit coin. Given one counterfeit coin among a number of otherwise identical coins, two players with full knowledge of the fake coin take turns weighing coins on a two-pan scale, under the condition that…
The existence of "Hot Hands" and "Streaks" in sports and gambling is hotly debated, but there is no uncertainty about the recent batting-average of the New York Times: it is now two-for-two in mangling and misunderstanding elementary…
We study the distribution and the popularity of left children on sets of treeshelves avoiding a pattern of size three. (Treeshelves are ordered binary increasing trees where every child is connected to its parent by a left or a right link.)…
An $n$-sided die is an $n$-tuple of positive integers. We say that a die $(a_1,\dots,a_n)$ beats a die $(b_1,\dots,b_n)$ if the number of pairs $(i,j)$ such that $a_i>b_j$ is greater than the number of pairs $(i,j)$ such that $a_i<b_j$. We…
What is the number of rolls of fair 6-sided dice until the first time the total sum of all rolls is a prime? We compute the expectation and the variance of this random variable up to an additive error of less than 10^{-4}. This is a…
We use the idea of the broken stick problem (which goes back to Poincare) and calculate the corresponding probabilities for the cases in which the three broken part are: the medians in a triangle, the altitudes, radii of excircles, angle…
The laws of chance are often subtle and deceptive. This is why games of chance work. People are convinced that they obey seemingly intuitive laws, while the underlying mathematical structure reveals a different and more complex reality.…
When we want to simulate the realization of a symmetric simple random walk on $\mathbb Z^d$, we use $(2d)$-side fair dice to decide to which neighbor it jumps at each step if $d\geq 2$ or we simply use a fair coin when $d=1$. Assume that…
In this note we study how to share a good between n players in a simple and equitable way. We give a short proof for the existence of such fair divisions.
A substantial portion of the literature on fairness in algorithms proposes, analyzes, and operationalizes simple formulaic criteria for assessing fairness. Two of these criteria, Equalized Odds and Calibration by Group, have gained…