All Questions
Tagged with pr.probability co.combinatorics
802 questions
3
votes
1
answer
266
views
Probability that a randomly filled Go board has a set of white stones connected through their von Neumann neighborhoods
I have an $N$ by $M$ grid (a Go board for example), where for every square in the grid, I place a white stone with probability $p$ and a black stone with probability $(1-p)$. We call two white stones ...
- 67
1
vote
0
answers
217
views
Calculating or estimating a combinatorial multivariate sum
Dear all,
I'm currently looking at a problem in which the following combinatorial product emerges:
$c(m_1,\dots,m_\lambda;n_1,\dots,n_\lambda)=\frac{m_1 !}{(m_1-n_1)!}\frac{(m_1+m_2-n_1)!}{(m_1+m_2-...
- 41
3
votes
1
answer
515
views
A probability question about removing stones from piles
I have run across a question that seems like it should have a well known answer, but I can't find one, so I thought I would ask this hive mind:
Suppose we start with t piles of s rocks each. In a ...
- 205
31
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Probability of zero in a random matrix
Let $M(n,k)$ be the set of $n\times n$ matrices of nonnegative integers such that every row and every column sums to $k$. Let $P(n,k)$ be the fraction of such matrices which have no zero entries, ...
- 37.7k
14
votes
1
answer
956
views
Partitioning the vertices of an n-cube with random hyperplane cuts
An evolutionary biologist asked me a question which boils down, at least in part, to what seems to me an interesting question of combinatorial/probabilistic geometry.
It is an old chestnut of a ...
- 19.2k
4
votes
0
answers
216
views
How should one generate a random set of mappings?
My motivation for this question comes from the study of synchronizing automata. There is a general consensus that random automata are synchronizing and have short synchronizing words. I am hoping ...
- 38.6k
8
votes
2
answers
990
views
What is the tropical Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence?
And what are it's applications? A conceptual explanation would be great! Is there an expository note about this somewhere?
Some references have already appeared in the answers and comments below. To ...
- 85.6k
17
votes
3
answers
923
views
Random permutations from Brownian motion
Let $B(t)$ be a Brownian motion. The ordering of $(0, B(1), ..., B(n-1)) $ is a random permutation in $S_n$. This is not uniform for $n>2$ since the probabilities of the identity permutation $[123.....
- 28k
4
votes
2
answers
420
views
Generating a group by randomly sampling generators
Let $G$ be a finite abelian group, $n$ a positive integer and let $G^n$ denote the direct product of $n$ copies of $G$. We say an element of $G^n$ is full if it acts as a nonidentity element of $G$ in ...
- 2,649
8
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Van Den Berg-Kesten-Reimer inequality
Van Den Berg-Kesten-Reimer inequality
Let $n$ be a positive integer. For $i\in[n]$, let $\Omega_i$ be a finite set and $\mu_i$ a probability measure on it. Set $\Omega=\Omega_1\!\times\!\ldots\!\...
- 148
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Probabilty of two permutations having common elements?
What is the probability of two permutations on set X of size m (i.e. |X|=m) having at least n points of intersection? By this I mean that if two permutations, which I'll call g(x) and h(x), map a ...
- 55
6
votes
1
answer
595
views
Number of connected components in a graph from G(n,m)
Hello,
$G(n,m)$ is the family of all graphs with $n$ vertices and $m$ edges (I consider $m < n$).
Each graph in $G(n,m)$ is selected with uniform probability.
What is the probability that the ...
- 61
8
votes
1
answer
576
views
probability theory for combinatorialists
More than one combinator(ial?)ist has asked me to recommend a good book to learn probability from, and I never know what to say; the probability theory that I use in my research up was mostly learned ...
0
votes
0
answers
127
views
A problem about partial sum of random number composition
Consider the strong random number composition,
$x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_n = m$, with $x_i > 0$ and all possible compositions have the same probability.
Let random variable $S_i = \sum_{j=1}^i x_j$...
- 177
14
votes
3
answers
694
views
Probability to be the winner in a tournament
In a project in Game Theory we (Ayala Arad and Ariel Rubinstein) are stuck with the following "simple" question. We are sure of the conjecture but we failed to find a (hopefully simple) proof:
Let $...
- 141
4
votes
1
answer
249
views
Colored arrangements of circles on the two sphere
Let me define a degree $n$ colored arrangement of circles on $S^2$ to be a collection $\mathcal{C}$ of $n$ disjoint, smoothly embedded circles $C_1,\dotsc, C_n\subset S^2$ together with a ...
- 34.7k
3
votes
0
answers
143
views
finding rank-3 tensors compatible with a rank-2 tensor projection
I am interested in the following problem: Consider a rank-3 symmetric tensor $\boldsymbol{\sigma}$ with $\sigma_{ijk}$ where $\sigma_{ijk}$ can be 0 or 1, and the symmetry is with respect to any ...
- 41
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
A property of unimodal sequences
It is well-known that $(-1)^j \sum_{i=0}^j (-1)^i\binom{n}{i} \geq 0$. This inequality can be used to prove Bonferroni's inequalities for example. Recently I noticed that a similar inequality applies ...
- 619
4
votes
1
answer
151
views
Mean occurrences of letters in complete strings given by a Bernoulli scheme
Suppose one has an alphabet of $K$ letters, from which we draw sequentially letters; assume that the $n$-th letter occurs with a fixed probability $p_n$ independently of the others and of the previous ...
- 418
6
votes
0
answers
104
views
geometric construction of uniform measure on plane partitions in a box
If one picks $a+b$ points uniformly at random (and independently) in $[0,1]$, coloring $a$ of them Red and $b$ of them Blue, then reading the points from left to right one gets a uniform random ...
- 19.7k
5
votes
0
answers
273
views
root system generalizations of Sekiguchi-Debiard (aka Laplace-Beltrami) operators
For the root system $A_n$, taking the limit $q = t^\alpha$ and $t \to 1$, and letting $Y = (t-1) X -1$ one obtains from the Macdonald operator the so-called Sekiguchi-Debiard operator:
$$D_\alpha(X) =...
- 4,466
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Hamming distance distribution induced by binary hypercube
The following problem arises in a particular machine learning problem:
Assume that we have $n$ independent Bernoulli random variables with parameters $p_i$, e.g. $n=5$ and the $p$ vector is $(0.2, 0....
- 13
14
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Combinatorial proof for the number of lattice paths that return to the axis only at times that are a multiple of 4
Consider lattice paths consisting of $2n$ steps, each of which is either $(1,1)$ or $(1,-1)$. The number of such lattice paths that return to the horizontal axis only at times that are a multiple of $...
- 3,283
10
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Random Unfoldings of the Cube
Motivated by unfoldings of the dodecahedron in How To Fold It --
How many (labeled or unlabeled) unfoldings of the 1 x 1 x n stack of unit cubes are there?
JORourke (4Nov16): John's original image is ...
- 22.8k
29
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Combinatorial Morse functions and random permutations
This question has its origin in combinatorial topology. In the 90s R. Forman proposed a discrete counterpart of Morse theory. In his case, a Morse function on a triangulated space is a function ...
- 34.7k
6
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Number of integer combinations $x_1 < \cdots < x_n$?
I asked this question earlier on math.stackexchange.com but didn't get an answer:
Let $0 < a_1 < \cdots < a_n$ be integers. Is there a closed formula (or some other result) for the number $N(...
- 16.2k
8
votes
3
answers
789
views
A Variance-Tail Description for Continuous Probability Distributions
Start with a continuous probability distribution given by a density function f(x). Let X be a real random variable whose distribution is given by the probability distribution.
I would like to ask ...
- 24.7k
4
votes
0
answers
117
views
symmetric difference of temperate zone and inscribed disk
For random domino tilings of the Aztec diamond of order $n$ or random lozenge tilings of the regular hexagon of order $n$, what's the typical order of magnitude of the area of the symmetric difference ...
- 19.7k
11
votes
4
answers
1k
views
A trick or a general technique? (Probabilistic Method)
Suppose we have some positive quantites $P$ and $Q$ which depend on some choices that we make, and we want to show that some choice makes the quotient $P/Q$ fall below some cool bound.
One idea is to ...
- 9,720
9
votes
1
answer
229
views
shape of random q-weighted lattice path
Where can I find a detailed write-up of the asymptotic shape of a $q$-weighted Young diagram inside an $a$-by-$b$ box, especially one that uses a variational approach?
Equivalently, we can look at ...
- 19.7k
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Problem about expectation of maximum partial sum
Given a number $m$, a random composition (strong) of this number into $n$ positive parts so that we can get $n$ random variable $X_1, X_2,\dots, X_n$ with $$X_1+X_2+\cdots+X_n=m$$
Note that all ...
- 177
8
votes
1
answer
350
views
Distribution of big component of set partitions
Consider the set $S_n = \{1, \dotsc, n\},$ and consider the set $P(n, k)$ of partitions of $S_n$ into $k$ parts (the cardinality of $P(n, k)$ is the Stirling number of the second kind $S(n, k).$ ...
- 96.4k
4
votes
1
answer
466
views
Maximum vertical distance for a lattice path when NSEW steps are allowed
Suppose we have a lattice path in 2D starting at the origin, in which north, south, east, and west steps are allowed. For a given path $L$, let $\max(L)$ be the maximum value of the $y$ coordinate ...
- 3,283
9
votes
1
answer
395
views
computing average height-functions for lozenge tilings
Can anyone suggest a simple and efficient way (preferably embodied in computer code) to compute the average height function for lozenge tilings of an $a,b,c,a,b,c$ semiregular hexagon? I prefer to ...
- 19.7k
4
votes
0
answers
331
views
What is 'arch' in Vershik-Kerov's 1984 paper?
In their 1984 paper Asymptotic of the Largest and the Typical Dimensions of Irreducible Representations of a Symmetric Group, Vershik and Kerov use the notation $\DeclareMathOperator{\arch}{arch}\arch ...
- 445
3
votes
2
answers
251
views
Designing a tree to match a distribution
I want to design a tree to approximate a given
sequence of numbers, in the following sense.
Let $X=(x_1,\ldots,x_n)$ be $n$ numbers, with $0 < x_i \le 1$
and $\sum_i x_1 = 1$.
For a rooted tree $T$,...
- 151k
51
votes
3
answers
4k
views
What is the sandpile torsor?
Let G be a finite undirected connected graph. A divisor on G is an element of the free abelian group Div(G) on the vertices of G (or an integer-valued function on the vertices.) Summing over all ...
- 19.2k
13
votes
2
answers
383
views
Comparing two measures on trees on $n$ vertices
A standard measure on trees on $n$ vertices is the Uniform Spanning Tree (UST) on the complete graph. This is the measure where every tree has equal probability, $1 / n^{n-2}$ by Cayley's formula.
...
- 7,857
24
votes
1
answer
615
views
Permutations, stopping times, Bessel functions, hook formula and Robinson-Schensted
For given counting number $n$, consider all permutations $\pi$ of {$1,\ldots,n$}, generate for every $\pi$ its Robinson-Schensted pair of standard tableaux $(P_\pi,Q_\pi)$ and average together all the ...
- 17.6k
2
votes
0
answers
979
views
How to calculate/approximate expectation of function of a binomial random variable?
Hi,
I am stuck at following problem in my research.
Suppose that $M=m$ is a random variable with binomial distribution with parameters $n,p$. The constants $r$ and $\gamma$ are greater than zero. $\...
- 21
5
votes
1
answer
839
views
An optimization problem involving sum of binomial coefficients upto some value
I would like to minimize $f(s, n, \epsilon)$ with respect to $s$ where
$$f(s,n,\epsilon) = \left( 1 + \frac{n}{2^s} \right)\frac{1}{s} \sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor s\epsilon \rfloor} {s \choose k}~.$$
Note ...
- 362
6
votes
3
answers
814
views
A simple stopping time problem.
This should be rather standard so I hope somebody with a good background in probability theory would give me a quick solution or a reference.
We are given a threshold positive integer $T>0$. Let $...
- 195
1
vote
2
answers
535
views
Randomized algorithm?
The problem is as follows. Given a set $S$ of natural numbers of size $n$ where each $x_i \in S$ is from the set $[n^2]$. Elements of $S$ are not necessarily pairwise different, i.e., there can be ...
- 113
4
votes
5
answers
492
views
Some questions concerning a random number process
Consider the following Markov process: Start with an integer $N = N_0$. Now repeatedly choose an $N_i$ uniformly at random in the range $[1...N_{i-1}]$ until $N_i = 1$ at which point one terminates ...
- 5,191
4
votes
2
answers
882
views
Distribution of a maximum
I am reposting a question on math.stackexchange which did not recieve good questions.
The orginal questio is at https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/73091/distribution-of-a-maximum.
Randomly ...
- 177
10
votes
1
answer
462
views
For what range of edge probability does the following property hold for random graphs?
Let $G(n,p)$ denote the Erdős–Rényi model of random graph. For a given function $p = p(n)$ we say that $G \in G(n,p)$ asymptotically almost surely has property $\mathcal{P}$ if
$$\mbox{Pr}[G \mbox{ ...
- 7,857
3
votes
1
answer
242
views
Bounding the success time of a coupon collector like problem
Consider the complete graph on $n$ vertices. Each step, one chooses one of the $\binom{n}{2}$ edges iid uniformly at random. Say a sequence of choice is successful if there is some permutation of the ...
- 4,466
0
votes
1
answer
426
views
Lower bounds for partial sums of multiplicative functions
The motivation for this enquiry is to understand something about the impact of multiplicativity for $f:\mathbb{N}\rightarrow\mathbb{C}$ on the conditional convergence of Dirichlet series
$$F(s)=\...
- 2,480
4
votes
2
answers
295
views
Distribution of the biggest gap
Randomly select $n$ numbers from the universe $\{1,2\dots,m\}$ without replacement, and sort the numbers in ascending order.
We can get a list of number $\{(a_1,a_2,\dots,a_n\)}$, and then we can ...
- 177
5
votes
0
answers
227
views
Number of times lead changes in a multi-candidate election (reference-request)
In a two candidate election where votes are distributed uniformly at random between the candidates, the probability that the lead changes when tallying the $i$-th vote is the same as the probability ...
- 51