Related papers: Too Many Hats

We consider the Bilevel Knapsack with Interdiction Constraints, an extension of the classic 0-1 knapsack problem formulated as a Stackelberg game with two agents, a leader and a follower, that choose items from a common set and hold their…

We address the linguistic problem of the sequential arrangement of a head and its dependents from an information theoretic perspective. In particular, we consider the optimal placement of a head that maximizes the predictability of the…

Here we present a combinatorial decision problem, inspired by the celebrated quiz show called the countdown, that involves the computation of a given target number T from a set of k randomly chosen integers along with a set of arithmetic…

In this paper we consider a scenario where there are several algorithms for solving a given problem. Each algorithm is associated with a probability of success and a cost, and there is also a penalty for failing to solve the problem. The…

Consider the following probability puzzle: A fair coin is flipped n times. For each HT in the resulting sequence, Bob gets a point, and for each HH Alice gets a point. Who is more likely to win? We provide a proof that Bob wins more often…

We show that the problem of counting perfect matchings remains #P-complete even if we restrict the input to very dense graphs, proving the conjecture in [5]. Here "dense graphs" refer to bipartite graphs of bipartite independence number…

In this paper, we design efficient algorithms to approximately count the number of edges of a given $k$-hypergraph, and to sample an approximately uniform random edge. The hypergraph is not given explicitly, and can be accessed only through…

It is shown that an equiprobability hypothesis leads to a scenario in which it is possible to predict the outcome of a single toss of a fair coin with a success probability greater than 50%. We discuss whether this hypothesis might be…

Mafia can be described as an experiment in human psychology and mass hysteria, or as a game between informed minority and uninformed majority. Focus on a very restricted setting, Mossel et al. [to appear in Ann. Appl. Probab. Volume 18,…

In real-world scenarios, individuals often cooperate for mutual benefit. However, differences in wealth can lead to varying outcomes for similar actions. In complex social networks, individuals' choices are also influenced by their…

What is the average number of tosses needed before a particular sequence of heads and tails turns up? We solve the problem didactically, starting with doubles, finding that a tail, followed by a head, turns up on the average after only four…

Consider a card guessing game with complete feedback in which a deck of $n$ cards ordered $1,\dots, n$ is riffle-shuffled once. With the goal to maximize the number of correct guesses, a player guesses cards from the top of the deck one at…

We prove that the difference between the paint number and the choice number of a complete bipartite graph $K_{N,N}$ is $\Theta(\log \log N )$. That answers the question of Zhu (2009) whether this difference, for all graphs, can be bounded…

Let $s_1,s_2,\ldots s_n$ be states of a general probability theory, and $\mathcal A$ be the set of all subsets of indices $H \subset [n]\equiv\{1,2,\ldots n\}$ such that the states $(s_j)_{j\in H}$ are jointly perfectly distinguishable. All…

On March 16, 2024, Daniel Litt, in an X-post, proposed the following brainteaser: "Flip a fair coin 100 times. It gives a sequence of heads (H) and tails (T). For each HH in the sequence of flips, Alice gets a point; for each HT, Bob does,…

We consider bandit problems involving a large (possibly infinite) collection of arms, in which the expected reward of each arm is a linear function of an $r$-dimensional random vector $\mathbf{Z} \in \mathbb{R}^r$, where $r \geq 2$. The…

Finding an optimal matching in a weighted graph is a standard combinatorial problem. We consider its semi-bandit version where either a pair or a full matching is sampled sequentially. We prove that it is possible to leverage a rank-1…

We generalise the popular cops and robbers game to multi-layer graphs, where each cop and the robber are restricted to a single layer (or set of edges). We show that initial intuition about the best way to allocate cops to layers is not…

League competition is investigated using random processes and scaling techniques. In our model, a weak team can upset a strong team with a fixed probability. Teams play an equal number of head-to-head matches and the team with the largest…

We consider a card guessing game with complete feedback. A ordered deck of n cards labeled 1 up to n is riffle-shuffled exactly one time. Then, the goal of the game is to maximize the number of correct guesses of the cards, where one after…