Related papers: Matching adjacent cards
We show that each set of $n\ge 2$ points in the plane in general position has a straight-line matching with at least $(5n+1)/27$ edges whose segments form a connected set, and such a matching can be computed in $O(n \log n)$ time. As an…
In the unidimensional unfolding model, given m objects in general position there arise 1+m(m-1)/2 rankings. The set of rankings is called the ranking pattern of the m given objects. By changing these m objects, we can generate various…
We study a competitive optimization version of $\alpha'(G)$, the maximum size of a matching in a graph $G$. Players alternate adding edges of $G$ to a matching until it becomes a maximal matching. One player (Max) wants that matching to be…
This article, based on a talk, treats some elementary, but not completely simple examples from probability. They concern multiple birthday coincidences, throwing dice, the combinatorics of the German card game "Doppelkopf", and the…
The rank of a bimatrix game is the matrix rank of the sum of the two payoff matrices. This paper comprehensively analyzes games of rank one, and shows the following: (1) For a game of rank r, the set of its Nash equilibria is the…
We examine the complexity of the ``Texas Hold'em'' variant of poker from a topological perspective. We show that there exists a natural simplicial complex governing the multi-way winning probabilities between various hands, and that this…
The rank of a graph is defined to be the rank of its adjacency matrix. A graph is called reduced if it has no isolated vertices and no two vertices with the same set of neighbors. Akbari, Cameron, and Khosrovshahi conjectured that the…
We consider equilibrium one-on-one conversations between neighbors on a circular table, with the goal of assessing the likelihood of a (perhaps) familiar situation: sitting at a table where both of your neighbors are talking to someone…
Let $S_{n}$ denote the space of all $n \times n$ real symmetric matrices. For n=2 or n>2 we characterize maps F from $S_{n}$ to $S_{m}$ which preserve adjacency, i.e. if rank(A-B)=1, then rank(F(A)-F(B))=1.
This document is an exposition of an assortment of open problems arising from the exact enumeration of (perfect) matchings of finite graphs. Roughly half have been solved at the time of this writing; see the document "Twenty Open Problems…
Consider shuffling a deck of $n$ cards, labeled $1$ through $n$, as follows: at each time step, pick one card uniformly with your right hand and another card, independently and uniformly with your left hand; then swap the cards. How long…
An adjacency-crossing graph is a graph that can be drawn such that every two edges that cross the same edge share a common endpoint. We show that the number of edges in an $n$-vertex adjacency-crossing graph is at most $5n-10$. If we…
Consider a random graph model where each possible edge $e$ is present independently with some probability $p_e$. Given these probabilities, we want to build a large/heavy matching in the randomly generated graph. However, the only way we…
Consider three players Alice, Bob and Cath who hold a, b and c cards, respectively, from a deck of d=a+b+c cards. The cards are all different and players only know their own cards. Suppose Alice and Bob wish to communicate their cards to…
Consider $2k-1$ voters, each of which has a preference ranking between $n$ given alternatives. An alternative $A$ is called a Condorcet winner, if it wins against every other alternative $B$ in majority voting (meaning that for every other…
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…
Comparing alternatives in pairs is a well-known method of ranking creation. Experts are asked to perform a series of binary comparisons and then, using mathematical methods, the final ranking is prepared. As experts conduct the individual…
Shapley and Scarf introduced a notion of stable allocation between traders and indivisible goods, when each trader has rank-ordered each of the goods. The purpose of this note is to prove that the distribution of ranks after allocation is…
We study several variants of the classical card game war. As anyone who played this game knows, the game can take some time to terminate, but it usually does. Here, we analyze a number of asymptotic variants of the game, where the number of…
A star of n (n greater than or equal to 2) line segments (needles) of equal length with common endpoint and constant angular spacing is randomly placed onto a lattice which is the union of two families of equidistant lines in the plane with…