Related papers: The clumsy coupon collector's problem
The solution of the classical Coupon Collector's Problem is based on the assumptions that all stickers are independently and uniformly distributed. We can prove statistically as well as analytically that in particular the assumption of…
We address a conjecture of Schilling concerning the optimality of the uniform distribution in the generalized Coupon Collector's Problem (CCP) where, in each round, a subset (package) of $s$ coupons is drawn from a total of $n$ distinct…
Among observables characterising the random exploration of a graph or lattice, the cover time, namely the time to visit every site, continues to attract widespread interest. Much insight about cover times is gained by mapping to the…
The embedding problem of Markov transition matrices into continuous-time Markov semigroups is a classic problem that regained a lot of impetus and activities in recent years. We consider it here for the following generalisation of the…
We study the two-player coupon-collector competition in which two independent collectors draw one coupon each per round from a set of $d$ equally likely coupon types. Myers and Wilf gave finite formulae for several two-player events and…
The paper introduces a modified version of the classical Coupon Collector's Problem entailing exchanges and cooperation between multiple players. Results of the development show that, within a proper Markov framework, the complexity of the…
In continuous time, customers arrive at random. Each waits until one of $c$ servers is available; each thereafter departs at random. The distribution of maximum line length of idle customers was studied over 25 years ago. We revisit two…
We study how efficiently a $k$-element set $S\subseteq[n]$ can be learned from a uniform superposition $|S\rangle$ of its elements. One can think of $|S\rangle=\sum_{i\in S}|i\rangle/\sqrt{|S|}$ as the quantum version of a uniformly random…
Despite the coupon collector's problem has simple probabilistic solution using inclusion/exclusion principle \cite{PolyaUrn}, starting from a particular type of recurrence differential equation it is used an analytic approach to recover…
Computer-based tests with randomly generated questions allow a large number of different tests to be generated. Given a fixed number of alternatives for each question, the number of tests that need to be generated before all possible…
For status update systems operating over unreliable energy-constrained wireless channels, we address Weaver's long-standing Level-C question: do my packets actually improve the plant's behavior? Each fresh sample carries a stochastic…
A basic question in the PAC model of learning is whether proper learning is harder than improper learning. In the classical case, there are examples of concept classes with VC dimension $d$ that have sample complexity $\Omega\left(\frac…
In this paper we deal with the classical problem of random cover times. We investigate the distribution of the time it takes for a Poisson process of cylinders to cover a set $A \subset \mathbb{R}^d.$ This Poisson process of cylinders is…
We revisit a version of the classic occupancy scheme, where balls are thrown until almost all boxes receive a given number of balls. Special cases are widely known as coupon-collectors and dixie cup problems. We show that as the number of…
Let $N_n=\{1,2,...,n\}$. Elements are drawn from the set $N_n$ with replacement, assuming that each element has probability $1/n$ of being drawn. We determine the limiting distributions for the waiting time until the given portion of pairs…
The Coupon Collector's Problem is one of the few mathematical problems that make news headlines regularly. The reasons for this are on one hand the immense popularity of soccer albums (called Paninimania) and on the other hand that no…
Given a discrete distribution, an interesting problem is to determine the minimum size of a random sample drawn from this distribution, in order to observe a given number of different records. This problem is related with many applied…
Consider n items located randomly on a circle of length 1. The locations of the items are assumed to be independent and uniformly distributed on [0,1). A picker starts at point 0 and has to collect all n items by moving along the circle at…
We study a relaxation of the problem of coupling probability distributions -- a list of samples is generated from one distribution and an accept is declared if any one of these samples is identical to the sample generated from the other…
This paper focuses on the Coupon Collector's Problem with replacement (limited purchasing of missing stickers) and swapping. We have simulated combined strategies and found new results, which we were able to prove for a particular case. The…