Related papers: Extremal Probability Bounds in Combinatorial Optim…
The problem of variable-rate lossless data compression is considered, for codes with and without prefix constraints. Sharp bounds are derived for the best achievable compression rate of memoryless sources, when the excess-rate probability…
We consider the problem of computing the value and an optimal strategy for minimizing the expected termination time in one-counter Markov decision processes. Since the value may be irrational and an optimal strategy may be rather…
Chebyshev's inequality provides an upper bound on the tail probability of a random variable based on its mean and variance. While tight, the inequality has been criticized for only being attained by pathological distributions that abuse the…
The celebrated result of Kabanets and Impagliazzo (Computational Complexity, 2004) showed that PIT algorithms imply circuit lower bounds, and vice versa. Since then it has been a major challenge to understand the precise connections between…
This paper studies lower bounds for fundamental optimization problems in the CONGEST model. We show that solving problems exactly in this model can be a hard task, by providing $\tilde{\Omega}(n^2)$ lower bounds for cornerstone problems,…
This paper considers the maximization of the expected maximum value of a portfolio of random variables subject to a budget constraint. We refer to this as the optimal college application problem. When each variable's cost, or each college's…
We prove new upper and lower bounds for sample complexity of finding an $\epsilon$-optimal policy of an infinite-horizon average-reward Markov decision process (MDP) given access to a generative model. When the mixing time of the…
We formalize the problem of selecting the optimal set of options for planning as that of computing the smallest set of options so that planning converges in less than a given maximum of value-iteration passes. We first show that the problem…
The Metropolis process (MP) and Simulated Annealing (SA) are stochastic local search heuristics that are often used in solving combinatorial optimization problems. Despite significant interest, there are very few theoretical results…
Maximum likelihood estimation is a fundamental computational problem in statistics. In this note, we give a bound for the maximum likelihood degree of algebraic statistical models for discrete data. As usual, such models are identified with…
We consider the problem of approximating the reachable set of a discrete-time polynomial system from a semialgebraic set of initial conditions under general semialgebraic set constraints. Assuming inclusion in a given simple set like a box…
In this paper, we develop a general approach for probabilistic estimation and optimization. An explicit formula and a computational approach are established for controlling the reliability of probabilistic estimation based on a mixed…
We consider the problem of modulation and estimation of a random parameter $U$ to be conveyed across a discrete memoryless channel. Upper and lower bounds are derived for the best achievable exponential decay rate of a general moment of the…
A worst-case complexity bound is proved for a sequential quadratic optimization (commonly known as SQP) algorithm that has been designed for solving optimization problems involving a stochastic objective function and deterministic nonlinear…
We study the problem of distinguishing between two symmetric probability distributions over $n$ bits by observing $k$ bits of a sample, subject to the constraint that all $k-1$-wise marginal distributions of the two distributions are…
We use the lexicographic order to define a hierarchy of primal and dual bounds on the optimum of a bounded integer program. These bounds are constructed using lex maximal and minimal feasible points taken under different permutations. Their…
In this paper q-ary Raptor codes under ML decoding are considered. An upper bound on the probability of decoding failure is derived using the weight enumerator of the outer code, or its expected weight enumerator if the outer code is drawn…
It is well known that the entropy $H(X)$ of a discrete random variable $X$ is always greater than or equal to the entropy $H(f(X))$ of a function $f$ of $X$, with equality if and only if $f$ is one-to-one. In this paper, we give tight…
In this thesis, we settle the computational complexity of some fundamental questions in polynomial optimization. These include the questions of (i) finding a local minimum, (ii) testing local minimality of a point, and (iii) deciding…
This paper is our third step towards developing a theory of testing monomials in multivariate polynomials and concentrates on two problems: (1) How to compute the coefficients of multilinear monomials; and (2) how to find a maximum…