Related papers: Frustration solitaire
Apportionment is the problem of distributing $h$ indivisible seats across states in proportion to the states' populations. In the context of the US House of Representatives, this problem has a rich history and is a prime example of…
We collect open problems in permutation patterns on four themes: rank-unimodality in the permutation pattern poset, Wilf-equivalence and shape-Wilf-equivalence, the enumeration of derangements in permutation classes, and sorting by stacks…
Our ignorance of the winnability percentage of the solitaire card game `Klondike' has been described as ``one of the embarrassments of applied mathematics''. Klondike, the game in the Windows Solitaire program, is just one of many…
In this paper we examine a symmetric tensor decomposition problem, the Gramian decomposition, posed as a rank minimization problem. We study the relaxation of the problem and consider cases when the relaxed solution is a solution to the…
In this paper, we discuss a stochastic decision problem of optimally selecting the order in which to try $n$ opportunities that may yield an uncertain reward in the future. The motivation came out from pure curiosity, after an informal…
Consider a permutation $\sigma\in S_n$ as a deck of cards numbered from 1 to $n$ and laid out in a row, where $\sigma_j$ denotes the number of the card that is in the $j$-th position from the left.\rm\ We study some probabilistic and…
We investigate the mathematics behind unshuffles, a type of card shuffle closely related to classical perfect shuffles. To perform an unshuffle, deal all the cards alternately into two piles and then stack the one pile on top of the other.…
We give a concise historical background to Montmort's matching problem and its modern variants such as the hat-check problem, then develop a unified counting framework for fixed-point-free allocations. Using elementary recurrence and…
We introduce the problem of ranking with slot constraints, which can be used to model a wide range of application problems -- from college admission with limited slots for different majors, to composing a stratified cohort of eligible…
Consider a uniformly random deck consisting of cards labelled by numbers from $1$ through $n$, possibly with repeats. A guesser guesses the top card, after which it is revealed and removed and the game continues. What is the expected number…
Using derandomization, we provide an upper bound on the compression size of solutions to the graph coloring problem. In general, if solutions to a combinatorial problem exist with high probability and the probability is simple, then there…
We propose and develop a novel framework for analyzing permutation-based combinatorial optimization problems, which could eventually be extended to other types of problems. Our approach is based on the decomposition of the objective…
Challenges for physical solitaire puzzle games are typically designed in advance by humans and limited in number. Alternatively, some games incorporate rules for stochastic setup, where the human solver randomly sets up the game board…
Single-elimination (SE) tournaments are a popular format used in competitive environments and decision making. Algorithms for SE tournament manipulation have been an active topic of research in recent years. In this paper, we initiate the…
In combinatorics, a derangement is a permutation of the elements of a set, such that no element appears in its original position. The number of derangement of an n-element set is called the nth derangement number. Recently, the degenerate…
In frequently repeated matching scenarios, individuals may require diversification in their choices. Therefore, when faced with a set of potential outcomes, each individual may have an ideal lottery over outcomes that represents their…
We are lifting classical problems from single instances to regular sets of instances. The task of finding a positive instance of the combinatorial problem $P$ in a potentially infinite given regular set is equivalent to the so called…
In combinatorics, a derangement is a permutation that has no fixed points. The number of derangements of an n-element set is called the n-th derangement number. In this paper, as natural companions to derangement numbers and degenerate…
We will describe a combinatorial game that models the problem of resolution of singularities of algebraic varieties over a field of characteristic zero. By giving a winning strategy for this game, we give another proof of the existence of…
The paper addresses a new class of combinatorial problems which consist in restructuring of solutions (as structures) in combinatorial optimization. Two main features of the restructuring process are examined: (i) a cost of the…