Related papers: Exploring mazes at random
We present an improved incremental selection algorithm of the selection algorithm presented in [1] and prove all the selected conjectures.
In combinatorics, the probabilistic method is a very powerful tool to prove the existence of combinatorial objects with interesting and useful properties. Explicit constructions of objects with such properties are often very difficult, or…
A high number of discrete optimization problems, including Vertex Cover, Set Cover or Feedback Vertex Set, can be unified into the class of covering problems. Several of them were shown to be inapproximable by deterministic algorithms. This…
The author presents two tricks to accelerate depth-first search algorithms for a class of combinatorial puzzle problems, such as tiling a tray by a fixed set of polyominoes. The first trick is to implement each assumption of the search with…
In this paper we present a metaheuristic for global optimization called General Algorithmic Search (GAS). Specifically, GAS is a stochastic, single-objective method that evolves a swarm of agents in search of a global extremum. Numerical…
Works, briefly surveyed here, are concerned with two basic methods: Maximum Probability and Bayesian Maximum Probability; as well as with their asymptotic instances: Relative Entropy Maximization and Maximum Non-parametric Likelihood.…
In this paper, we consider a classic problem concerning the high excursion probabilities of a Gaussian random field $f$ living on a compact set $T$. We develop efficient computational methods for the tail probabilities $P(\sup_T f(t) > b)$…
Topology optimization problems often support multiple local minima due to a lack of convexity. Typically, gradient-based techniques combined with continuation in model parameters are used to promote convergence to more optimal solutions;…
We develop a novel computational method for evaluating the extreme excursion probabilities arising from random initialization of nonlinear dynamical systems. The method uses excursion probability theory to formulate a sequence of Bayesian…
We show the existence of rigid combinatorial objects which previously were not known to exist. Specifically, for a wide range of the underlying parameters, we show the existence of non-trivial orthogonal arrays, $t$-designs, and $t$-wise…
The matching problem plays a basic role in combinatorial optimization and in statistical mechanics. In its stochastic variants, optimization decisions have to be taken given only some probabilistic information about the instance. While the…
Crucial to an Evolutionary Algorithm's performance is its selection scheme. We mathematically investigate the relation between polynomial rank and probabilistic tournament methods which are (respectively) generalisations of the popular…
Decision theories offer principled methods for making choices under various types of uncertainty. Algorithms that implement these theories have been successfully applied to a wide range of real-world problems, including materials and drug…
Mastermind is in essence a search problem in which a string of symbols that is kept secret must be found by sequentially playing strings that use the same alphabet, and using the responses that indicate how close are those other strings to…
Experimental mathematics is an experimental approach to mathematics in which programming and symbolic computation are used to investigate mathematical objects, identify properties and patterns, discover facts and formulas and even…
In \cite{entombed}, John Aycock and Tara Copplestone pose an open question, namely the explanation of the mysterious lookup table used in the Entombed Game's Algorithm for two dimensional maze generation. The question attracted media…
This paper shows how to evolve numerically the maximum entropy probability distributions for a given set of constraints, which is a variational calculus problem. An evolutionary algorithm can obtain approximations to some well-known…
Sample-efficient exploration is crucial not only for discovering rewarding experiences but also for adapting to environment changes in a task-agnostic fashion. A principled treatment of the problem of optimal input synthesis for system…
Parallelization and External Memory (PEM) techniques have significantly enhanced the capabilities of search algorithms when solving large-scale problems. Previous research on PEM has primarily centered on unidirectional algorithms, with…
The optimization of expensive-to-evaluate black-box functions over combinatorial structures is an ubiquitous task in machine learning, engineering and the natural sciences. The combinatorial explosion of the search space and costly…