Related papers: On the Sn/n-Problem

The localization game is a variant of the game of Cops and Robber in which the robber is invisible and moves between adjacent vertices, but the cops can probe any $k$ vertices of the graph to obtain the distance between probed vertices and…

Subtraction games are a classical topic in Combinatorial Game Theory. A result of Golomb~(1966) shows that every subtraction game with a finite move set has an eventually periodic nim-sequence, but the known proof yields only an exponential…

We consider the discrete time stopping problem \[ V(t,x) = \sup_{\tau}E_{(t,x)}[g(\tau, X_\tau)],\] where $X$ is a random walk. It is well known that the value function $V$ is in general not smooth on the boundary of the continuation set…

We consider the Cops and Robber pursuit-evasion game when the edge-set of the graph is allowed to change in time, possibly at every round. Specifically, the game is played on an infinite periodic sequence $\mathcal{G} = (G_0, \dots,…

We study a variant of the classical cop-robber game played on compact metric graphs, where each edge is assigned a positive length and identified with a real interval of corresponding length. In this setting, both the cop and the robber…

In this paper we develop a deep learning method for optimal stopping problems which directly learns the optimal stopping rule from Monte Carlo samples. As such, it is broadly applicable in situations where the underlying randomness can…

We consider a randomized algorithm for the unique games problem, using independent multinomial probabilities to assign labels to the vertices of a graph. The expected value of the solution obtained by the algorithm is expressed as a…

For $\tau$ a stopping rule adapted to a sequence of $n$ iid observations, we define the loss to be $\ex [ q(R_\tau)]$, where $R_j$ is the rank of the $j$th observation, and $q$ is a nondecreasing function of the rank. This setting covers…

Two concepts of random stopping times in continuous time have been defined in the literature, mixed stopping times and randomized stopping times. We show that under weak conditions these two concepts are equivalent, and, in fact, that all…

We consider the cops and robber game variant consisting of one cop and one robber on time-varying graphs (TVG). The considered TVGs are edge periodic graphs, i.e., for each edge, a binary string $s_e$ determines in which time step the edge…

We consider 2-player stochastic games with perfectly observed actions, and study the limit, as the discount factor goes to one, of the equilibrium payoffs set. In the usual setup where current states are observed by the players, we show…

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 consider a finite-time stochastic drift control problem with the assumption that the control is bounded and the system is controlled until the state process leaves the half-line. Assuming general conditions, it is proved that the…

In Robbins' problem of minimizing the expected rank, a finite sequence of $n$ independent, identically distributed random variables are observed sequentially and the objective is to stop at such a time that the expected rank of the selected…

This paper extends the work started in 2002 by Demaine, Demaine and Verill (DDV) on coin-moving puzzles. These puzzles have a long history in the recreational literature, but were first systematically analyzed by DDV, who gave a full…

In the game of Cops and Robbers, the capture time of a graph is the minimum number of moves needed by the cops to capture the robber, assuming optimal play. We prove that the capture time of the $n$-dimensional hypercube is $\Theta (n\ln…

We consider the optimal stopping problem $v^{(\eps)}:=\sup_{\tau\in\mathcal{T}_{0,T}}\mathbb{E}B_{(\tau-\eps)^+}$ posed by Shiryaev at the International Conference on Advanced Stochastic Optimization Problems organized by the Steklov…

We present an analysis of a coin-tossing problem posed by Daniel Litt which has generated some popular interest. We demonstrate a recursive identity which leads to relatively simple formulas for the excess number of wins for one player over…

The concept of an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), introduced by Smith and Price, is a refinement of Nash equilibrium in 2-player symmetric games in order to explain counter-intuitive natural phenomena, whose existence is not…

A common format for sports contests involves pairwise matches between two teams, with the #1 player of team A matched against the #1 player of team B, the #2 player of team A against the #2 player of team B, and so on. This paper addresses…