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Related papers: Physical Zero-Knowledge Proof for Ball Sort Puzzle

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The problem we are considering is the following. A colorblind player is given a set $B = \{b_1,b_2,...,b_N\}$ of $N$ colored balls. He knows that each ball is colored either red or green, and that there are less green balls (this will be…

The $k$-majority game is played with $n$ numbered balls, each coloured with one of two colours. It is given that there are at least $k$ balls of the majority colour, where $k$ is a fixed integer greater than $n/2$. On each turn the player…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2014-02-25 John R. Britnell , Mark Wildon

Bubble Sort is simple. Yet, it seems a bit difficult for high school students. This paper presents a pedagogical methodology: Using Design Sketch to visualize the concepts in Bubble Sort, and to evaluate how this approach assists students…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2009-12-22 Chih-Hao Liu , Yi-Wen Jiu , Jason Jen-Yen Chen

Consider a bin containing $n$ balls colored with two colors. In a $k$-query, $k$ balls are selected by a questioner and the oracle's reply is related (depending on the computation model being considered) to the distribution of colors of the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2011-05-10 Gianluca De Marco , Evangelos Kranakis , Gabor Wiener

Inspired by a common technique for shuffling a deck of cards on a table without riffling, we formalize the pile shuffle and investigate its capabilities as a sorting device. Our study is novel in that we consider pile shuffle in three…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2025-06-03 Kyle B. Treleaven

In statistical decision theory involving a single decision-maker, an information structure is said to be better than another one if for any cost function involving a hidden state variable and an action variable which is restricted to be…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-01-07 Ian Hogeboom-Burr , Serdar Yüksel

We consider a card guessing game with complete feedback. An ordered deck of $n$ cards labeled $1$ up to $n$ is riffle-shuffled exactly one time. Given a value $p\in(0{,}1)\setminus\{\frac12\}$, the riffle shuffle is assumed to be…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-02-13 Markus Kuba

In this paper, we present a novel encryption-less algorithm to enhance security in transmission of data in networks. The algorithm uses an intuitively simple idea of a 'jigsaw puzzle' to break the transformed data into multiple parts where…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2007-05-23 Rangarajan Vasudevan , Ajith Abraham , Sugata Sanyal , Dharma P. Agrawal

We consider the problem of determining the minimum number of moves needed to solve a certain one-dimensional peg puzzle. Let N be a positive integer. The puzzle apparatus consists of a block with a single row of 2N+1 equally spaced holes…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2007-05-23 David M. Bradley , Hugh Thomas

We present a game inspired by research on the possible number of billiard ball collisions in the whole Euclidean space. One player tries to place $n$ static "balls" with zero radius (i.e., points) in a way that will minimize the total…

Dynamical Systems · Mathematics 2019-10-23 Jayadev Athreya , Krzysztof Burdzy

In this work, we examine a generic class of simple distributed balls-into-bins algorithms. Exploiting the strong concentration bounds that apply to balls-into-bins games, we provide an iterative method to compute accurate estimates of the…

Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing · Computer Science 2014-08-01 Pierre Bertrand , Christoph Lenzen

A fork stack is a generalised stack which allows pushes and pops of several items at a time. We consider the problem of determining which input streams can be sorted using a single forkstack, or dually, which permutations of a fixed input…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2007-05-23 M. H. Albert , M. D. Atkinson

In this paper we investigate the problem of sorting a set of $n$ coins, each with distinct but unknown weights, using an unusual scale. The classical version of this problem, which has been well-studied, gives the user a binary scale,…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-07-22 Richard A. B. Johnson , Gabor Meszaros

This paper presents a novel encryption-less algorithm to enhance security in transmission of data in networks. The algorithm uses an intuitively simple idea of a "jigsaw puzzle" to break the transformed data into multiple parts where these…

Cryptography and Security · Computer Science 2010-02-25 Rangarajan Athi Vasudevan , Ajith Abraham , Sugata Sanyal

Consider n cards that are labeled 1 through n with n an even integer. The cards are put face down and their ordering starts with card labeled 1 on top through card labeled n at the bottom. The cards are top to random shuffled m times and…

Probability · Mathematics 2010-06-08 Lerna Pehlivan

Several differential equations usually appearing in mathematical physics are solved through a power series expansion, which reduces in solving difference equations. In this paper a probability problem is presented whose solution follows a…

Probability · Mathematics 2019-06-27 Anastasios Taliotis

Position verification schemes are interactive protocols where entities prove their physical location to others; this enables interactive proofs for statements of the form "I am at a location $L$." Although secure position verification…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-02-17 Uma Girish , Greg Gluch , Shafi Goldwasser , Tal Malkin , Leo Orshansky , Henry Yuen

During last years poker has gained a lot of prestige in several countries and, beyond to be one of the most famous card games, it represents a modern challenge for scientists belonging to different communities, spanning from artificial…

Physics and Society · Physics 2016-07-06 Marco Alberto Javarone

Zero forcing is a combinatorial game played on a graph where the goal is to start with all vertices unfilled and to change them to filled at minimal cost. In the original variation of the game there were two options. Namely, to fill any one…

We consider the recently introduced knotting-unknotting game, in which two players take turns resolving crossings in a knot diagram which initially is missing all its crossing information. Once the knot is fully resolved, the winner is…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2011-07-25 William Johnson