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Related papers: Single-Sample Prophet Inequalities Revisited

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We study offline reinforcement learning in average-reward MDPs, which presents increased challenges from the perspectives of distribution shift and non-uniform coverage, and has been relatively underexamined from a theoretical perspective.…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-04-23 Matthew Zurek , Guy Zamir , Yudong Chen

We study online secretary problems with returns in combinatorial packing domains with $n$ candidates that arrive sequentially over time in random order. The goal is to accept a feasible packing of candidates of maximum total value. In the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-02-06 Martin Hoefer , Lisa Wilhelmi

We study the polynomial-time approximability of the optimal online stochastic bipartite matching algorithm, initiated by Papadimitriou et al. (EC'21). Here, nodes on one side of the graph are given upfront, while at each time $t$, an online…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-07-23 Mark Braverman , Mahsa Derakhshan , Tristan Pollner , Amin Saberi , David Wajc

We consider an online multi-weighted generalization of several classic online optimization problems, called the online combinatorial assignment problem. We are given an independence system over a ground set of elements and agents that…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2023-11-03 Javier Marinkovic , José A. Soto , Victor Verdugo

Free order prophet inequalities bound the ratio between the expected value obtained by two parties each selecting a value from a set of independent random variables: a "prophet" who knows the value of each variable and may select the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2020-10-20 Makis Arsenis , Odysseas Drosis , Robert Kleinberg

The well-known secretary problem in sequential analysis and optimal stopping theory asks one to maximize the probability of finding the optimal candidate in a sequentially examined list under the constraint that accept/reject decisions are…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2021-07-13 Xujun Liu , Olgica Milenkovic

In the matroid secretary problem we are given a stream of elements and asked to choose a set of elements that maximizes the total value of the set, subject to being an independent set of a matroid given in advance. The difficulty comes from…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2012-07-24 Michael Dinitz , Guy Kortsarz

Prophet inequalities are a useful tool for designing online allocation procedures and comparing their performance to the optimal offline allocation. In the basic setting of $k$-unit prophet inequalities, the well-known procedure of Alaei…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-10-10 Jiashuo Jiang , Will Ma , Jiawei Zhang

In the online random-arrival model, an algorithm receives a sequence of n requests that arrive in a random order. The algorithm is expected to make an irrevocable decision with regard to each request based only on the observed history. We…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2014-07-08 Shai Vardi

The Matroid Secretary Problem is a central question in online optimization, modeling sequential decision-making under combinatorial constraints. We introduce a bipartite graph framework that unifies and extends several known formulations,…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-11-07 Kristóf Bérczi , Vasilis Livanos , José A. Soto , Victor Verdugo

Suppose we are given integer $k \leq n$ and $n$ boxes labeled $1,\ldots, n$ by an adversary, each containing a number chosen from an unknown distribution. We have to choose an order to sequentially open these boxes, and each time we open…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-05-13 Mohammad Taghi Hajiaghayi , Dariusz R. Kowalski , Piotr Krysta , Jan Olkowski

We study the problem of selection in the context of Bayesian persuasion. We are given multiple agents with hidden values (or quality scores), to whom resources must be allocated by a welfare-maximizing decision-maker. An intermediary with…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-11-18 Yannan Bai , Kamesh Munagala , Yiheng Shen , Davidson Zhu

Babaioff et al. [BIK2007] introduced the matroid secretary problem in 2007, a natural extension of the classic single-choice secretary problem to matroids, and conjectured that a constant-competitive online algorithm exists. The conjecture…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-11-09 Maryam Bahrani , Hedyeh Beyhaghi , Sahil Singla , S. Matthew Weinberg

We formulate selecting the best optimizing system (SBOS) problems and provide solutions for those problems. In an SBOS problem, a finite number of systems are contenders. Inside each system, a continuous decision variable affects the…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-11-04 Nian Si , Yifu Tang , Zeyu Zheng

The conditional sampling model, introduced by Cannone, Ron and Servedio (SODA 2014, SIAM J. Comput. 2015) and independently by Chakraborty, Fischer, Goldhirsh and Matsliah (ITCS 2013, SIAM J. Comput. 2016), is a common framework for a…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-10-22 Tomer Adar , Eldar Fischer , Amit Levi

Correa et al. [EC' 2023] introduced the following trading prophets problem. A trader observes a sequence of stochastic prices for a stock, each drawn from a known distribution, and at each time must decide whether to buy or sell.…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-10-21 Yossi Azar , Niv Buchbinder , Roie Levin , Or Vardi

We consider a stochastic online problem where $n$ applicants arrive over time, one per time step. Upon arrival of each applicant their cost per time step is revealed, and we have to fix the duration of employment, starting immediately. This…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2017-05-31 Yann Disser , John Fearnley , Martin Gairing , Oliver Göbel , Max Klimm , Daniel Schmand , Alexander Skopalik , Andreas Tönnis

We study the submodular secretary problem with a cardinality constraint. In this problem, $n$ candidates for secretaries appear sequentially in random order. At the arrival of each candidate, a decision maker must irrevocably decide whether…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-05-14 Kaito Fujii

The Gibbard-Satterthwaite Impossibility Theorem holds that dictatorship is the only Pareto optimal and strategyproof social choice function on the full domain of preferences. Much of the work in mechanism design aims at getting around this…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-03-21 Sophie Bade , Yannai A. Gonczarowski

We study the problem of interference management in large-scale small cell networks, where each user equipment (UE) needs to determine in a distributed manner when and at what power level it should transmit to its serving small cell base…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2015-03-10 Kartik Ahuja , Yuanzhang Xiao , Mihaela van der Schaar