Related papers: The shuffle conjecture
A shuffle square is a word consisting of two shuffled copies of the same word. For instance, the Turkish word $\mathtt{\color{red}{ik}\color{blue}{i}\color{red}{li}\color{blue}{kli}}$ (binary in English) is a shuffle square, as it can be…
The ternary Goldbach conjecture, or three-primes problem, states that every odd number $n$ greater than $5$ can be written as the sum of three primes. The conjecture, posed in 1742, remained unsolved until now, in spite of great progress in…
We consider a random walk in the plane which takes steps uniformly distributed on the unit circle centered around the walker's current position but avoids the convex hull of its past positions. This model has been introduced by Angel,…
The Union Closed Sets Conjecture is one of the most renowned problems in combinatorics. Its appeal lies in the simplicity of its statement contrasted with the potential complexity of its resolution. The conjecture posits that, in any union…
Consider a random walk in $\mathbb{R}^d$ that starts at the origin and whose increment distribution assigns zero probability to any affine hyperplane. We solve Sylvester's problem for these random walks by showing that the probability that…
The 3x+ 1 problem concerns iteration of the map on the integers given by T(n) = (3n+1)/2 if n is odd; T(n) = n/2 if n is even. The 3x+1 Conjecture asserts that for every positive integer n > 1 the forward orbit of n under iteration by T…
We consider a random walk of $n$ steps starting at $x_0=0$ with a double exponential (Laplace) jump distribution. We compute exactly the distribution $p_{k,n}(\Delta)$ of the gap $d_{k,n}$ between the $k^{\rm th}$ and $(k+1)^{\rm th}$…
We explore relations between cyclic sequences determined by a quadratic difference relation, cyclotomic polynomials, Eulerian digraphs and walks in the plane. These walks correspond to closed paths for which at each step one must turn…
The overhand shuffle is one of the ``real'' card shuffling methods in the sense that some people actually use it to mix a deck of cards. A mathematical model was constructed and analyzed by Pemantle [J. Theoret. Probab. 2 (1989) 37--49] who…
Human mobility clustering is an important problem for understanding human mobility behaviors (e.g., work and school commutes). Existing methods typically contain two steps: choosing or learning a mobility representation and applying a…
Around 2000, Ira Gessel conjectured that the number of lattice walks in the quadrant N^2, starting and ending at the origin (0,0) and taking their steps in {E,NE,W,SW} had a simple hypergeometric form. In the following decade, this problem…
Let $X_1$, $X_2$, $...$ be a sequence of independently and identically distributed random variables with $\mathsf{E}X_1=0$, and let $S_0=0$ and $S_t=S_{t-1}+X_t$, $t=1,2,...$, be a random walk. Denote $\tau={cases}\inf\{t>1: S_t\leq0\},…
The concept of number and its generalization has played a central role in the development of mathematics over many centuries and many civilizations. Noteworthy milestones in this long and arduous process were the developments of the real…
Consider simple random walk $(X_n)_{n\geq0}$ on a transitive graph with spectral radius $\rho$. Let $u_n=\mathbb{P}[X_n=X_0]$ be the $n$-step return probability and $f_n$ be the first return probability at time $n$. It is a folklore…
Conditions are provided under which an endomorphism on quasisymmetric functions gives rise to a left random walk on the descent algebra which is also a lumping of a left random walk on permutations. Spectral results are also obtained.…
The problems of enumerating lattice walks, with an arbitrary finite set of allowed steps, both in one and two dimensions, where one must always stay in the non-negative half-line and quarter-plane respectively, are used, as case studies, to…
This is a short note describing a model generalizing the Harmonic explorer [6] that might be of interest and it is $\textit{not}$ intended for publication in a journal. The conjectured continuous model should have the same left-passage…
An estimate of Beurling states that if K is a curve from 0 to the unit circle in the complex plane, then the probability that a Brownian motion starting at -eps reaches the unit circle without hitting the curve is bounded above by c…
Commuting is a key mechanism that governs the dynamics of cities. Despite its importance, very little is known of the properties and mechanisms underlying this crucial urban process. Here, we capitalize on $\sim$ 50 million individuals'…
In a recent paper J. Haglund showed that a certain symmetric function expresion enumerates by t^{area} q^{dinv} of the parking functions whose diagonal word is in the shuffle of 12...j and j+1...j+n with k of the cars j+1,...,j+n in the…