553 research outputs found
Kernels for Feedback Arc Set In Tournaments
A tournament T=(V,A) is a directed graph in which there is exactly one arc
between every pair of distinct vertices. Given a digraph on n vertices and an
integer parameter k, the Feedback Arc Set problem asks whether the given
digraph has a set of k arcs whose removal results in an acyclic digraph. The
Feedback Arc Set problem restricted to tournaments is known as the k-Feedback
Arc Set in Tournaments (k-FAST) problem. In this paper we obtain a linear
vertex kernel for k-FAST. That is, we give a polynomial time algorithm which
given an input instance T to k-FAST obtains an equivalent instance T' on O(k)
vertices. In fact, given any fixed e>0, the kernelized instance has at most
(2+e)k vertices. Our result improves the previous known bound of O(k^2) on the
kernel size for k-FAST. Our kernelization algorithm solves the problem on a
subclass of tournaments in polynomial time and uses a known polynomial time
approximation scheme for k-FAST
Prizes and Incentives in Elimination Tournaments
The role of rewards for maintaining performance incentives in multistage, sequential games of survival is studied. The sequential structure is a statistical design-of-experiments for selecting and ranking contestants. It promotes survival of the fittest and saves sampling costs by early elimination of weaker contenders. Analysis begins with the case where competitors' talents are common knowledge and is extended to cases where talents are unknown. It is shown that extra weight must be placed on top ranking prizes to maintain performance incentives of survivors at all stages of the game. The extra weight at the top induces competitors to aspire to higher goals independent of past achievements. In career games workers have many rungs in the hierarchical ladder to aspire to in the early stages of their careers, and this plays an important role in maintaining their enthusiasm for continuing. But the further one has climbed, the fewer the rungs left to attain. If top prizes are not large enough, those who have succeeded in attaining higher ranks rest on their laurels and slack off in their attempts to climb higher. Elevating the top prizes makes the ladder appear longer for higher ranking contestants, and in the limit makes it appear of unbounded length: no matter how far one has climbed, it looks as if there is always the same length to go. Concentrating prize money on the top ranks eliminates the no-tomorrow aspects of competition in the final stages.
On Elo based prediction models for the FIFA Worldcup 2018
We propose an approach for the analysis and prediction of a football
championship. It is based on Poisson regression models that include the Elo
points of the teams as covariates and incorporates differences of team-specific
effects. These models for the prediction of the FIFA World Cup 2018 are fitted
on all football games on neutral ground of the participating teams since 2010.
Based on the model estimates for single matches Monte-Carlo simulations are
used to estimate probabilities for reaching the different stages in the FIFA
World Cup 2018 for all teams. We propose two score functions for ordinal random
variables that serve together with the rank probability score for the
validation of our models with the results of the FIFA World Cups 2010 and 2014.
All models favor Germany as the new FIFA World Champion. All possible courses
of the tournament and their probabilities are visualized using a single Sankey
diagram.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
The "No Justice in the Universe" phenomenon: why honesty of effort may not be rewarded in tournaments
In 2000 Allen Schwenk, using a well-known mathematical model of matchplay
tournaments in which the probability of one player beating another in a single
match is fixed for each pair of players, showed that the classical
single-elimination, seeded format can be "unfair" in the sense that situations
can arise where an indisputibly better (and thus higher seeded) player may have
a smaller probability of winning the tournament than a worse one. This in turn
implies that, if the players are able to influence their seeding in some
preliminary competition, situations can arise where it is in a player's
interest to behave "dishonestly", by deliberately trying to lose a match. This
motivated us to ask whether it is possible for a tournament to be both honest,
meaning that it is impossible for a situation to arise where a rational player
throws a match, and "symmetric" - meaning basically that the rules treat
everyone the same - yet unfair, in the sense that an objectively better player
has a smaller probability of winning than a worse one. After rigorously
defining our terms, our main result is that such tournaments exist and we
construct explicit examples for any number n >= 3 of players. For n=3, we show
(Theorem 3.6) that the collection of win-probability vectors for such
tournaments form a 5-vertex convex polygon in R^3, minus some boundary points.
We conjecture a similar result for any n >= 4 and prove some partial results
towards it.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure
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