Related papers: Prophet Inequalities for I.I.D. Random Variables f…
Suppose $\widehat\theta_n$ is a strongly consistent estimator for $\theta_0$ in some i.i.d. situation. Let $N_\varepsilon$ and $Q_\varepsilon$ be respectively the last $n$ and the total number of $n$ for which $\widehat\theta_n$ is at least…
We study optimal distributed first-order optimization algorithms when the network (i.e., communication constraints between the agents) changes with time. This problem is motivated by scenarios where agents experience network malfunctions.…
When allocating indivisible items to agents, it is known that the only strategyproof mechanisms that satisfy a set of rather mild conditions are constrained serial dictatorships: given a fixed order over agents, at each step the designated…
Robbins' problem of optimal stopping asks one to minimise the expected {\it rank} of observation chosen by some nonanticipating stopping rule. We settle a conjecture regarding the {\it value} of the stopped variable under the rule optimal…
In "Recognizing the Maximum of a Sequence", Gilbert and Mosteller analyze a full information game where n measurements from an uniform distribution are drawn and a player (knowing n) must decide at each draw whether or not to choose that…
We study chance constrained optimization problems $\min_x f(x)$ s.t. $P(\left\{ \theta: g(x,\theta)\le 0 \right\})\ge 1-\epsilon$ where $\epsilon\in (0,1)$ is the violation probability, when the distribution $P$ is not known to the decision…
We study the problem of learning revenue-optimal multi-bidder auctions from samples when the samples of bidders' valuations can be adversarially corrupted or drawn from distributions that are adversarially perturbed. First, we prove tight…
We consider the problem of estimating the total probability of all symbols that appear with a given frequency in a string of i.i.d. random variables with unknown distribution. We focus on the regime in which the block length is large yet no…
Various algorithms for reinforcement learning (RL) exhibit dramatic variation in their convergence rates as a function of problem structure. Such problem-dependent behavior is not captured by worst-case analyses and has accordingly inspired…
We solve the problem of optimal stopping of a Brownian motion subject to the constraint that the stopping time's distribution is a given measure consisting of finitely-many atoms. In particular, we show that this problem can be converted to…
We investigate an optimal stopping problem for the expected value of a discounted payoff on a regime-switching geometric Brownian motion under two constraints on the possible stopping times: only at exogenous random times and only during a…
We study an infinite horizon optimal stopping problem which arises naturally in the optimal timing of a firm/project sale or in the valuation of natural resources: the functional to be maximised is a sum of a discounted running reward and a…
In the classical best arm identification (Best-$1$-Arm) problem, we are given $n$ stochastic bandit arms, each associated with a reward distribution with an unknown mean. We would like to identify the arm with the largest mean with…
Given a finite set of unknown distributions or arms that can be sampled, we consider the problem of identifying the one with the maximum mean using a $\delta$-correct algorithm (an adaptive, sequential algorithm that restricts the…
We study pure exploration with infinitely many bandit arms generated i.i.d. from an unknown distribution. Our goal is to efficiently select a single high quality arm whose average reward is, with probability $1-\delta$, within $\varepsilon$…
Given $n$ i.i.d. samples from an unknown discrete distribution over an unknown set, the unseen species problem is to predict how many new outcomes would be observed in $m$ additional samples. For small $m$ we show that the Good-Toulmin…
Chebyshev's inequality provides an upper bound on the tail probability of a random variable based on its mean and variance. While tight, the inequality has been criticized for only being attained by pathological distributions that abuse the…
We perform a rigorous runtime analysis for the Univariate Marginal Distribution Algorithm on the LeadingOnes function, a well-known benchmark function in the theory community of evolutionary computation with a high correlation between…
We consider the problem of guessing the realization of a random variable but under more general Tsallis' non-extensive entropic framework rather than the classical Maxwell-Boltzman-Gibbs-Shannon framework. We consider both the conditional…
Independent samples from an unknown probability distribution $\bf p$ on a domain of size $k$ are distributed across $n$ players, with each player holding one sample. Each player can communicate $\ell$ bits to a central referee in a…