Related papers: The Kruskal Count
Most convex and nonconvex clustering algorithms come with one crucial parameter: the $k$ in $k$-means. To this day, there is not one generally accepted way to accurately determine this parameter. Popular methods are simple yet theoretically…
In trick-taking card games, a two-step process of state sampling and evaluation is widely used to approximate move values. While the evaluation component is vital, the accuracy of move value estimates is also fundamentally linked to how…
The problem of $A$ privately transmitting information to $B$ by a public announcement overheard by an eavesdropper $C$ is considered. To do so by a deterministic protocol, their inputs must be correlated. Dependent inputs are represented…
A Sudoku puzzle often has a regular pattern in the arrangement of initial digits and it is typically made solvable with known solving techniques, called strategies. In this paper, we consider the problem of generating such Sudoku instances.…
Cryptic crossword clues are challenging cognitive tasks, for which new test sets are released on a daily basis by multiple international newspapers. Each cryptic clue contains both the definition of the answer to be placed in the crossword…
Motivated by the controversy in the chess community, where Hikaru Nakamura, a renowned grandmaster, has posted multiple impressive winning streaks over the years on the online platform chess.com, we derive the probabilities of various types…
We study the hat guessing game on graphs. In this game, a player is placed on each vertex $v$ of a graph $G$ and assigned a colored hat from $h(v)$ possible colors. Each player makes a deterministic guess on their hat color based on the…
This paper intends to solve the Transversal achievement on an n times n grid problem proposed by Dr. Martin Erickson. We approach the problem using mathematical induction and case analysis and prove the hypothesis that for all n greater…
The game of Hangman is a classical asymmetric two player game in which one player, the setter, chooses a secret word from a language, that the other player, the guesser, tries to discover through single letter matching queries, answered by…
The following magic trick is at the center of this paper. While the audience writes the first ten terms of a Fibonacci-like sequence (the sequence following the same recursion as the Fibonacci sequence), the magician calculates the sum of…
The card-cyclic-to-random shuffle is the card shuffle where the $n$ cards are labeled $1,\ldots,n$ according to their starting positions. Then the cards are mixed by first picking card $1$ from the deck and reinserting it at a uniformly…
We prove a theorem that reduces bounding the mixing time of a card shuffle to verifying a condition that involves only triplets of cards. Then we use it to analyze a classic model of card shuffling. In 1988, Diaconis introduced the…
Magic squares are well-known arrangements of integers with common row, column, and diagonal sums. Various other magic shapes have been proposed, but triangles have been somewhat overlooked. We introduce certain triangular arrangements of…
In 2007, a new variety of the well-known problem of identifying a counterfeit coin using a balance scale was introduced in the sixth International Kolmogorov Math Tournament. This paper offers a comprehensive overview of this new problem by…
The multi-armed bandit is a mathematical interpretation of the problem a gambler faces when confronted with a number of different machines (bandits). The gambler wants to explore different machines to discover which machine offers the best…
There are several approaches for using computers in deriving mathematical proofs. For their illustration, we provide an in-depth study of using computer support for proving one complex combinatorial conjecture -- correctness of a strategy…
In 1970, Statistics giant, Bradley Efron, amazed the world by coming up with a set of four dice, let's call them A,B,C,D, whose faces are marked with [0,0,4,4,4,4], [3,3,3,3,3,3],[2,2,2,2,6,6],[1,1,1,5,5,5] respectively, where die A beats…
We use Markov chains and numerical linear algebra -- and several CPU hours -- to determine the expected number of coins in a person's possession under certain conditions. We identify the spending strategy that results in the minimum…
G\'{e}rard Watts predicted a formula for the probability in percolation that there is both a left--right and an up--down crossing, which was later proved by Julien Dub\'{e}dat. Here we present a simpler proof due to Oded Schramm, which…
Fitch Cheney's 5-card trick was introduced in 1950. In 2013, Mulcahy invented a 4-card trick in which the cards are allowed to be displayed face down. We suggest our own invention: a 3-card trick in which the cards can be face down and also…