Related papers: Variations of a Coin-Removal Problem
We examine an important combinatorial challenge in clearing clutter using a mobile robot equipped with a manipulator, seeking to compute an optimal object removal sequence for minimizing the task completion time, assuming that each object…
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,…
Coins are frequently used in everyday life at various places like in banks, grocery stores, supermarkets, automated weighing machines, vending machines etc. So, there is a basic need to automate the counting and sorting of coins. For this…
The debts' clearing problem is about clearing all the debts in a group of $n$ entities (e.g. persons, companies) using a minimal number of money transaction operations. In our previous works we studied the problem, gave a dynamic…
Given a set of $n$ integer-valued coin types and a target value $t$, the well-known change-making problem asks for the minimum number of coins that sum to $t$, assuming an unlimited number of coins in each type. In the more general…
The minimum constraint removal problem seeks to find the minimum number of constraints, i.e., obstacles, that need to be removed to connect a start to a goal location with a collision-free path. This problem is NP-hard and has been studied…
Consider a binary word being transmitted through a communication channel that introduces deletable errors where each bit of the word is either retained, flipped, erased or deleted. The simplest code for correcting \emph{all} possible…
A collector wishes to collect $m$ complete sets of $N$ distinct coupons. The draws from the population are considered to be independent and identical distributed with replacement, and the probability that a type-$j$ coupon is drawn is noted…
A Fibonacci heap is a deterministic data structure implementing a priority queue with optimal amortized operation costs. An unfortunate aspect of Fibonacci heaps is that they must maintain a "mark bit" which serves only to ensure efficiency…
Motivated by a historical combinatorial problem that resembles the well-known Josephus problem, we investigate circular partition algorithms and formulate problems in deterministic finite automata with practical algorithms. The historical…
Separation is a classical problem asking whether, given two sets belonging to some class, it is possible to separate them by a set from a smaller class. We discuss the separation problem for regular languages. We give a Ptime algorithm to…
Quantum random walks have been much studied recently, largely due to their highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the line: the use of multiple…
We study the Colored Bin Packing Problem: we are given a set of items where each item has a weight and color. We must pack the items in bins of uniform capacity such that no two items of the same color may be adjacent within in a bin. The…
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…
An important question arising from the Frobenius Coin Problem is to decide whether or not a given monetary sum S can be obtained from N coin denominations. We develop a new Generating Function G(x), where the coefficient of x^i is equal to…
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…
A picture-hanging puzzle is the task of hanging a framed picture with a wire around a set of nails in such a way that it can remain hanging on certain specified sets of nails, but will fall if any more are removed. The classical brain…
We discuss several coin-weighing problems in which coins are known to be of three different weights and only a balance scale can be used. We start with the task of sorting coins when the pans of the scale can fit only one coin. We prove…
We generalize the well-known broken stick problem in several ways, including a discrete "brick" analogue and a sequential "pick-up sticks/bricks" version. The limit behavior of the broken brick problem gives a combinatorial proof of the…
We study a new reconfiguration problem inspired by classic mechanical puzzles: a colored token is placed on each vertex of a given graph; we are also given a set of distinguished cycles on the graph. We are tasked with rearranging the…