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Related papers: Faster Evaluation of Subtraction Games

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We revisit the classic 0-1-Knapsack problem, in which we are given $n$ items with their weights and profits as well as a weight budget $W$, and the goal is to find a subset of items of total weight at most $W$ that maximizes the total…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-10-24 Karl Bringmann , Alejandro Cassis

Let A be a finite subset of $\nat$. Then NIM(A;n) is the following 2-player game: initially there are $n$ stones on the board and the players alternate removing $a\in A$ stones. The first player who cannot move loses. This game has been…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-11-13 William Gasarch , John Purtilo , Douglas Ulrich

We present an approximation scheme for optimizing certain Quadratic Integer Programming problems with positive semidefinite objective functions and global linear constraints. This framework includes well known graph problems such as Minimum…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2015-03-19 Venkatesan Guruswami , Ali Kemal Sinop

We introduce and analyze the ordered Zeckendorf game, a novel combinatorial two-player game inspired by Zeckendorf's Theorem, which guarantees a unique decomposition of every positive integer as a sum of non-consecutive Fibonacci numbers.…

Number Theory · Mathematics 2026-03-31 Ivan Bortnovskyi , Michael Lucas , Steven J. Miller , Iana Vranesko , Ren Watson , Cameron White

In two-player games on graphs, the players move a token through a graph to produce an infinite path, which determines the winner of the game. Such games are central in formal methods since they model the interaction between a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-22 Milad Aghajohari , Guy Avni , Thomas A. Henzinger

We derive sublinear-time quantum algorithms for computing the Nash equilibrium of two-player zero-sum games, based on efficient Gibbs sampling methods. We are able to achieve speed-ups for both dense and sparse payoff matrices at the cost…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-04-08 Joran van Apeldoorn , András Gilyén

This paper presents a technique for approximating, up to any precision, the set of subgame-perfect equilibria (SPE) in discounted repeated games. The process starts with a single hypercube approximation of the set of SPE. Then the initial…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2010-02-10 Andriy Burkov , Brahim Chaib-draa

In a recent work on quantum state preparation, S{\o}rensen and colleagues explore the possibility of using video games to help design quantum control protocols. The authors present a game called "Quantum Moves" in which gamers have to move…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-04-24 Dries Sels

In a Take-Away Game on hypergraphs, two players take turns to remove the vertices and the hyperedges of the hypergraphs. In each turn, a player must remove either a single vertex or a hyperedge. When a player chooses to remove one vertex,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2022-03-21 T. H. Molena

A heap is a dynamic data structure that stores a set of labeled values under the following operations: pop returns the minimum value of the heap, Push($x_i$) pushes a new value $x_i$ onto the heap, and DecreaseKey($i$, $v$) decreases the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-04-28 Ivor van der Hoog , John Iacono , Eva Rotenberg , Daniel Rutschmann

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

This paper extends the work done by Angela Siegel on subtraction games in which the subtraction set is N \ X for some finite set X. Siegel proves that for any finite set X, the G-sequence is ultimately arithmetic periodic, and that if |X| =…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-01-17 Danny Sleator , Marla Slusky

We consider the SUBSET SUM problem and its important variants in this paper. In the SUBSET SUM problem, a (multi-)set $X$ of $n$ positive numbers and a target number $t$ are given, and the task is to find a subset of $X$ with the maximal…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2022-12-07 Xiaoyu Wu , Lin Chen

The Subset Sum problem, which asks whether a set of $n$ integers has a subset summing to a target $t$, is a fundamental NP-complete problem in cryptography and combinatorial optimization. The classical meet-in-the-middle (MIM) algorithm of…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-12-04 Jesus Salas

We consider Subtraction Nim, where two players have exactly the same options, but which is partizan in the sense that at the game ending, a partizan rule is applied for the decision of the winner. We consider the following example: Let $S$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-29 Hiyu Inoue , Shin-nosuke Kadowaki , Shun-ichi Kimura , Haruki Wada

A circular Nim game is a two player impartial combinatorial game consisting of n stacks of tokens placed in a circle. A move consists of choosing k consecutive stacks, and taking at least one token from one or more of the k stacks. The last…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-11-02 Matthieu Dufour , Silvia Heubach

Exploiting the algebraic structure of the set of bimatrix games, a divide-and-conquer algorithm for finding Nash equilibria is proposed. The algorithm is fixed-parameter tractable with the size of the largest irreducible component of a game…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2013-01-01 Xiang Jiang , Arno Pauly

We consider the following combinatorial game: two players, Fast and Slow, claim $k$-element subsets of $[n]=\{1,2,...,n\}$ alternately, one at each turn, such that both players are allowed to pick sets that intersect all previously claimed…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-01-07 Balazs Patkos , Mate Vizer

Stochastic games with discounted payoff, introduced by Shapley, model adversarial interactions in stochastic environments where two players try to optimize a discounted sum of rewards. In this model, long-term weights are geometrically…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-10-22 Taylor Dohmen , Ashutosh Trivedi

Cooperative games with nonempty core are called balanced, and the set of balanced games is a polyhedron. Given a game with empty core, we look for the closest balanced game, in the sense of the (weighted) Euclidean distance, i.e., the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-01-23 Pedro García-Segador , Michel Grabisch , Dylan Laplace Mermoud , Pedro Miranda