Related papers: A note on last-success-problems

Let $ V_{n} = X_{1,n} + X_{2,n} + \cdots + X_{n,n}$ where $X_{i,n}$ are Bernoulli random variables which take the value $1$ with probability $b(i;n)$. Let $\lambda_{n} = \sum\limits_{i=1}^{n} b(i;n) $, $\lambda = \lim\limits_{n \to \infty}…

We deal with the problem, initiated in [8], of finding randomized and quantum complexity of initial-value problems. We showed in [8] that a speed-up in both settings over the worst-case deterministic complexity is possible. In the present…

We consider the problem of predicting winners in elections, for the case where we are given complete knowledge about all possible candidates, all possible voters (together with their preferences), but where it is uncertain either which…

Let $\xi$ be a non-constant real-valued random variable with finite support, and let $M_{n}(\xi)$ denote an $n\times n$ random matrix with entries that are independent copies of $\xi$. For $\xi$ which is not uniform on its support, we show…

We consider the Bernoulli first-passage percolation on $\mathbb Z^d (d\ge 2)$. That is, the edge passage time is taken independently to be 1 with probability $1-p$ and 0 otherwise. Let ${\mu(p)}$ be the time constant. We prove in this paper…

Suppose Alice has a coin with heads probability $q$ and Bob has one with heads probability $p>q$. Now each of them will toss their coin $n$ times, and Alice will win iff she gets more heads than Bob does. Evidently the game favors Bob, but…

This papers contains two results concerning random $n \times n$ Bernoulli matrices. First, we show that with probability tending to one the determinant has absolute value $\sqrt {n!} \exp(O(\sqrt(n log n)))$. Next, we prove a new upper…

We consider a broad class of permutation invariant statistical problems by extending the standard decision theoretic definition to allow also selective inference tasks, where the target is specified only after seeing the data. For any such…

Consider the following two-player game on the edges of $K_n$, the complete graph with $n$ vertices: Starting with an empty graph $G$ on the vertex set of $K_n$, in each round the first player chooses $b \in \mathbb{N}$ edges from $K_n$…

We study the number of values taken by the sums $\sum_{i=u}^{v-1} a_i$, where $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_n$ is a permutation of $1,2,\dots,n$ and $1 \leq u < v \leq n+1$. In particular, we show that for a random choice of a permutation, with high…

We investigate the problem of computing the probability of winning in an election where voter attendance is uncertain. More precisely, we study the setting where, in addition to a total ordering of the candidates, each voter is associated…

This paper introduces a new discrete distribution suggested by curtailed sampling rules common in early-stage clinical trials. We derive the distribution of the smallest number of independent Bernoulli(p) trials needed in order to observe…

We analyze a simple randomized subgradient method for approximating solutions to stochastic systems of convex functional constraints, the only input to the algorithm being the size of minibatches. By introducing a new notion of what is…

We use an information-theoretic argument due to O'Connell (2000) to prove that every sufficiently symmetric event concerning a countably infinite family of independent and identically distributed random variables is deterministic (i.e., has…

We prove two basic conjectures on the distribution of the smallest singular value of random n times n matrices with independent entries. Under minimal moment assumptions, we show that the smallest singular value is of order n^{-1/2}, which…

Let $\{X(v), v \in \Bbb Z^d \times \Bbb Z_+\}$ be an i.i.d. family of random variables such that $P\{X(v)= e^b\}=1-P\{X(v)= 1\} = p$ for some $b>0$. We consider paths $\pi \subset \Bbb Z^d \times \Bbb Z_+$ starting at the origin and with…

We consider how an agent should update her uncertainty when it is represented by a set $\P$ of probability distributions and the agent observes that a random variable $X$ takes on value $x$, given that the agent makes decisions using the…

Fix two words over the binary alphabet $\{0,1\}$, and generate iid Bernoulli$(p)$ bits until one of the words occurs in sequence. This setup, commonly known as Penney's ante, was popularized by Conway, who found (in unpublished work) a…

We give a simple inequality for the sum of independent bounded random variables. This inequality improves on the celebrated result of Hoeffding in a special case. It is optimal in the limit where the sum tends to a Poisson random variable.

We show how two techniques from statistical physics can be adapted to solve a variant of the notorious Unique Games problem, potentially opening new avenues towards the Unique Games Conjecture. The variant, which we call Count Unique Games,…