Related papers: The Coupon Collector's Brother

The classic Coupon-Collector Problem (CCP) is generalized to the extent that each coupons serves certain "purposes". Only basic probability theory is used. Centerpiece rather is an algorithm that efficiently counts all $k$-element…

We study coverage processes in which each draw reveals a subset of $[n]$, and the goal is to determine the expected number of draws until all items are seen at least once. A classical example is the Coupon Collector's Problem, where each…

Based upon inequalities on Subset Probabilities, proofs of several conjectures on the Generalized Coupon Collector Problem (i.e. CCP with unequal popularity) are presented. Then we derive a very simple asymptotic relation between the…

In the coupon collector problem with $n$ items, the collector needs a random number of tries $T_n\simeq n\ln n$ to complete the collection. Also, after $nt$ tries, the collector has secured approximately a fraction…

A length-$n$ random sequence $X_1,\ldots,X_n$ in a space $S$ is finitely exchangeable if its distribution is invariant under all $n!$ permutations of coordinates. Given $N > n$, we study the extendibility problem: when is it the case that…

The aim of this paper is to solve the "gift exchange" problem: you are one of n players, and there are n wrapped gifts on display; when your turn comes, you can either choose any of the remaining wrapped gifts, or you can "steal" a gift…

An {\it Omnibus Sequence} of length $n$ is one that has each possible "message" of length $k$ embedded in it as a subsequence. We study various properties of Omnibus Sequences in this paper, making connections, whenever possible, to the…

Our purpose is to give an account of the $r$-tuple problem on the increasing sequence of reduced fractions having denominators bounded by a certain size and belonging to a fixed real interval. We show that when the size grows to infinity,…

In this paper, we study the problem of splitting fairly bundles of items. We show that given $n$ bundles with $m$ kinds of items in them, it is possible to distribute the value of each kind of item fairly among $r$ persons by breaking apart…

Cr\'emer and McLean [1985] showed that, when buyers' valuations are drawn from a correlated distribution, an auction with full knowledge on the distribution can extract the full social surplus. We study whether this phenomenon persists when…

Computer-based tests with randomly generated questions allow a large number of different tests to be generated. Given a fixed number of alternatives for each question, the number of tests that need to be generated before all possible…

Let $a$, $b$, and $n$ be integers with $0<a<b<n$. In a certain two-player probabilistic chip-collecting game, Alice tosses a coin to determine whether she collects $a$ chips or $b$ chips. If Alice collects $a$ chips, then Bob collects $b$…

An equivalent condition for the product of elements of an independent random sample on a compact algebraic group converging in distribution to some random variable as the sample size increases is obtained. Namely, a limit distribution…

The number of partitions of n into parts divisible by a or b equals the number of partitions of n in which each part and each difference of two parts is expressible as a non-negative integer combination of a or b. This generalizes…

We discuss in some detail the general problem of computing averages of convergent Euler products, and apply this to examples arising from singular series for the $k$-tuple conjecture and more general problems of polynomial representation of…

There are many papers written on the Two Envelopes Problem that usually study some of its variations. In this paper we will study and compare the most significant variations of the problem. We will see the correct decisions for each player…

In this paper, we study the "sum composition problem" between two lists $A$ and $B$ of positive integers. We start by saying that $B$ is "sum composition" of $A$ when there exists an ordered $m$-partition $[A_1,\ldots,A_m]$ of $A$ where $m$…

Multiplication is one of the most fundamental computational problems, yet its true complexity remains elusive. The best known upper bound, by F\"{u}rer, shows that two $n$-bit numbers can be multiplied via a boolean circuit of size $O(n \lg…

We are concerned with the general problem of proving the existence of joint distributions of two discrete random variables $M$ and $N$ subject to infinitely many constraints of the form $\mathbb{P}\left(M=i,N=j\right)=0$. In particular, the…

We show that the number of partitions of n with alternating sum k such that the multiplicity of each part is bounded by 2m+1 equals the number of partitions of n with k odd parts such that the multiplicity of each even part is bounded by m.…