Questions tagged [probabilistic-algorithms]
Questions about (typically randomized) algorithms that can produce no or an incorrect answer with a certain probability.
170
questions
2
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2answers
53 views
Probabilistic adaptive algorithm that can explore only $k$ bits of input can’t distinguish $k$-independent distribution from uniform
Definition: Distribution $D$ on $\{0,1\}^n$ is called $k$-independent if for every random variable $X$ with distribution $D$ and for all $i_1, \dots, i_k \in \{1,2,\dots,n\}$ random variable $X_{i_1,\...
4
votes
2answers
56 views
Why is tabulated hashing 3-wise independent but not 4-wise independent?
Tabulated hashing uses tables of random numbers to compute hash values.
Suppose $|\mathcal{U}| = 2^w \times 2^w$ and $m = 2^l$, so that the items being hashed are pairs $(x,y)$ where $x$ and $y$ are $...
2
votes
1answer
39 views
Is there a concept of probabilistic quantum computers?
Answering my question Yonatan N said a statement from which follows that there are computable functions of quantum time complexity strictly above polynomial.
Accordingly a Quora answer
Quantum ...
0
votes
1answer
27 views
How to simulate online matching algorithms (implementation)
I was reading about online algorithms and bipartite matching.
I found an implementation that works fine on several websites (like geeksforgeeks).
For the online version, I found this paper
https://...
0
votes
0answers
30 views
Techniques to prove lower bounds on randomized algorithms
I am interested in proving lower bounds for AM-like languages. The usual techniques for lower bounds in non-probabilistic machines don't work for probabilistic machines.
Intuitively, when I think ...
0
votes
0answers
31 views
kth smallest element using Randomized select
I have recently started studying Randomized algorithms on my own. I am refering to Rajiv motwani - randomized algorithms book.
Objective - find kth smallest element using radomized select in $O(n^\...
2
votes
1answer
30 views
Find dominated or subsumed linear inequalities efficiently
Problem statement
Given a set of $N$ linear inequalities of the form $a_1x_1 + a_2x_2 + ... + a_Mx_M \geq RHS$, where $a_i$ and $RHS$ are integers. The inequality $A$ dominates or subsumes inequality $...
0
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1answer
34 views
How to implement conditional probability distribution on set-valued Random Variables
I'm trying to implement conditional probability distribution when the events of two RVs are sets. If I try to extrapolate concepts from real or categorical variables to sets things become confusing ...
1
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1answer
47 views
Calculating a jackpot winner based on probabilities
Imagine a jackpot where users can bet as much as they want, and each bet increases their winning chance. Given a roll [0-100], how would you calculate the winner?
...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
Probability of loss using a binary symmetric channel
Today we talked about Information Theory and the binary symetric channel.
For newbies here is a little explanation :
For instance if I want to send a binary to someone :
The bit will be "flipped&...
1
vote
1answer
14 views
Populating a vector of numbers to expose an error in a function implementation
So lets say I'm writing an algorithm that takes a vector as input. I want to know that I'm writing this algorithm correctly however so I of course write tests to see if the output equals what I expect ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
Distributional error probability of deterministic algorithm implies error probability of randomized algorithm?
Consider some problem $P$ and let's assume we sample the problem instance u.a.r. from some set $I$.
Let $p$ be a lower bound on the distributional error of a deterministic algorithm on $I$, i.e., ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Hash function, $h(k) = \lfloor km \rfloor$ is simple uniform for real $k$ independently, uniformly distributed in the range $0 \leq k < 1$
I was going through the text Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et. al. where I came across the following statement:
If the keys are known to be random real numbers $k$ independently and uniformly ...
2
votes
1answer
38 views
Confusion about the Hiring Problem
I'm confused about where the probability from the hiring problem comes from.
For background:
We interview one person everyday who has a quality characteristic, x, from 0 to 1(distributed uniformly). ...
1
vote
1answer
33 views
Why Convolutional codes is easy to factor/handle the uncertainty of a bit being a 0 or a 1 into the decoding?
Here is an excerpt from Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 5th edition, Chapter 3 (The data link layer), Page 208:
My question is about this part.
[Convolutional codes have been popular in ...
2
votes
1answer
129 views
What is an example of a Monte-Carlo algorithm for finding a Hamiltonian path?
I've recently been made aware that there exist Monte-Carlo algorithm(s?) for determining whether a Hamiltonian path exists in a graph. I am struggling to figure out how it would work. What is the ...
0
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0answers
18 views
Reference on PCP theorem
Can someone recommend a reference on the PCP theorem that explains how it works via examples rather than formal CS language?
Specifically, I'm looking for the example on how graph colouring can be ...
0
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0answers
45 views
Hashing algorithm which minimizes distribution
Consider applications A1, A2 .. AN having properties P11, P12,... PN1, PN2.. Also consider buckets ...
3
votes
1answer
54 views
Sizing a Cuckoo filter for a subset of elements
Question
I am considering the use of Cuckoo filter for a business case. To simplify the explanation here is an analogy of my needs:
There are over $n = 30 000$ first names that exists in the whole ...
2
votes
1answer
102 views
$k$-coloring in BPP, implies $k$-coloring in ZPP
Consider the next problem:
$k$-COL: Given a graph $G=(V,E)$, does it have a valid $k$-coloring?
I need to prove that if $k$-COL is in BPP, then it is also in ZPP. In other words, show that if there ...
3
votes
1answer
57 views
Is there a complexity class QPP?
The complexity class PP is not considered tractable, because the probability of success can get arbitrarily close to 50% from above as the problem instances get larger, so that (e.g. if this approach ...
2
votes
1answer
27 views
Recover a matrix with minimum number of queries
Alice has a matrix $A \in \{0,1\}^{n \times m}$ such that the sum of each row is $1$. Bob tries to find the indices of the ones (he knows that the sum of each row is $1$). The type of questions Bob ...
2
votes
1answer
55 views
Probability of terminating in a state in a probabilistic algorithm
Suppose i have a circular array of $n$ elements.
At time $t=0$ i am in position 0 of the array. The algorithm moves left or right with probability $p=1/2$ (since the array is circular when it moves ...
2
votes
1answer
31 views
Demonstrating that probability for every possible result is uniform at the end of an algorithm
I have memory of $k$ elements that you can imagine being represented by an array. One by one, the array receives a value corresponding to the time index, for example at $t=1$ the value will be $1$.
At ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Chernoff Bounds (upper tail)
For the proof of Chernoff Bounds (upper tail) we suppose δ<2e−1 .
Like in this paper ([see this link ]) 1. Can you tell me why ?
0
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0answers
73 views
Prove an estimator
Consider an undirected graph $G=(V,E)$ representing the social network of friendship/trust between students. We would like to form teams of three students that know each other. The question is to ...
0
votes
0answers
21 views
Find expectation and calculate Chernoff bound [duplicate]
We have a group of employees and their company will assign a prize to as many employees as possible by finding the ones probably better than the rest. The company assigned the same 2 tasks to every ...
3
votes
1answer
309 views
Find expectation with Chernoff bound
We have a group of employees and their company will assign a prize to as many employees as possible by finding the ones probably better than the rest. The company assigned the same $2$ tasks to every ...
1
vote
1answer
612 views
Derandomization of vertex cover algorithm
I have the following randomized-algorithm for the vertex cover problem. Let $B_0$ be the output set:
Fix some order $e_1, e_2,...,e_m$ over all edges in the edge set E of G, and set $B_0=∅$.
Add to ...
3
votes
1answer
107 views
Grover's algorithm on probabilistic classical machines
As a starting point for this question, I came across this question, which AIUI is citing a construction showing how to simulate quantum circuits with a $PP$ algorithm, i.e. implying quantum ...
1
vote
1answer
16 views
Predicting the outcome of sporting events with multiplicative scoring
In the Olympic format for sport climbing, eight athletes compete in three rounds of climbing. Their final score is the multiplication of their rankings in each round. For example, an athlete who comes ...
4
votes
1answer
62 views
Understanding simulated annealing information theoretically
So I recently rediscovered simulated annealing though a path that others seem to be well aware of. I was aware of Metropolis-Hastings as a sampling algorithm that creates a Markov-Chain who's ...
0
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0answers
17 views
What is the probability that an expanding bipartite graph exists with the property, |V1|=|V2|?
I want to find a bound on the above problem, and show that a random graph has a positive probability of being an expanding bipartite with the property, |V1|=|V2|. I am not getting, where should I ...
2
votes
1answer
173 views
Why an error probability of 1/3 in BPP?
BPP is defined as the class of polynomial-time random algorithms which have an error probability of at most 1/3.
But why was 1/3 chosen? If we have an algorithm with some error probability less than ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
Are there efficient probabilistic multiplication algorithms that use O(n log n) gates?
Recently Harvey and Hoeven published a paper proving that integer multiplication can be performed using at most O(n log n) operations. This algorithm is theoretically interesting, but in practice ...
1
vote
1answer
37 views
Polysize bounded depth circuit for modified MAJORITY problem
I am trying to show the existence of a polynomial size, bounded depth monotone circuit on the inputs $(x_1,\ldots, x_n)$ that gives $1$ if $\sum x_i \geq n/2 + n/\log n$ and $0$ if $\sum x_i \leq n/2 -...
1
vote
1answer
139 views
Can BPP be bounded around any constant other than 1/2?
A language $L$ is in BPP if there exists a randomised TM such that it outputs a correct answer with probability at least $1/2+1/p(n)$ for some polynomial $p(n)$, where $n$ is the length of the input. ...
2
votes
0answers
75 views
Correctness of Karger's min-cut Algorithm
tl;dr in the analysis for Karger's min-cut, the probability of an edge being in the min-cut in the $j$th iteration, $\frac{k}{0.5k(n-j)}$, neglects the fact that all the edges between the two ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
Construction of hash function with a given distribution
Two questions about the construction of a hash function:
Let $U = \{u_1,...,u_n\}$ be a set of size $n$, and suppose that one is interested in a function $h\colon U \rightarrow [0,1]$ such that $h$ "...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
PCP variant in P with non 0 randomness and polynomial proof
I am trying to show that a particular language $L$ in PCP(log,q) is also in P. The PCP protocol works as follows: log many random bits and checks at q positions in a polynomial length proof. The ...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
SVM with a priori information about class probabilities
Given are two 2-d sets, each with its own bivariate normal distribution. I need to build an SVM classifier. The a priori probabilities of each class corresponds to the size of its set (20/50 for the ...
3
votes
1answer
68 views
Determine number of values less than mean in one pass through list
The problem statement is as follows:
Can we determine precisely the number of elements less than the mean in a list $A$ of $n$ numbers in only one pass through the array (starting at $A_1$ and ...
1
vote
1answer
37 views
Singleton in a simple SBM
I can't work out the solution to the following exercise:
We have $2n$ vertices grouped in $2$ clusters of equal size. The probability of having an edge between $i$ and $j$ is $p$ if $i$ and $j$ are ...
2
votes
1answer
452 views
How does KMV (k minimum value) perform set intersection better than hyperloglog?
In this paper, the author seems to suggest that theta sketches(a variant of kmv) outperforms hyperloglog in cardinality estimation on the intersection of n way streams.
...
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0answers
246 views
Perfect Completeness of AM protocols?
I understand the idea behind making a MA protocol perfectly complete. In a MA protocol, Merlin sends a proof $\pi$ which Arthur checks with his machine $V$ by plugging in some random bits $r$ such ...
2
votes
1answer
343 views
Probabilistic r-way cut set algorithm
I am reading Probability and Computing, by Mitzenmacher and Upfal, and the exercise 1.24 asks for a generalized algorithm for finding the cut-set of a Graph.
In this generalized version, instead of ...
3
votes
0answers
61 views
Is the definition of $\textbf{BPP}$ robust for doubly exponential small (or even smaller) error?
$\textbf{BPP}$ is usually defined in terms of probabilistic polynomial-time TMs which have an error probability of at most $\frac{1}{3}$. Furthermore, using the Chernoff bound it can be proven that ...
3
votes
1answer
136 views
Small space hash functions that are weakly but not strongly universal
This is a follow up to this this question about weakly universal hash functions
A family of hash functions $H_w$ is said to be weakly universal if for all $x \ne y$ :
$$P_{h \in H_w}(h(x) = h(y)) \...
5
votes
1answer
529 views
What is an example of a weakly universal hash function that is not pairwise independent?
A family of hash functions $H_w$ is said to be weakly universal if for all $x \ne y$ :
$$P_{h \in H_w}(h(x) = h(y)) \leq 1/m$$
Here the function $h:U \rightarrow [m]$ is chosen uniformly from the ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
How to generate a random number in a given range with uniform probability [closed]
I have used programming languages which generate a random number in a given range.
Let's say we have a range of 1 to 10 each number has the probability of 1/10 to get selected. What is the criteria ...
