The Exact Query Complexity of Yes-No Permutation Mastermind

Mastermind is famous two-player game. The first player (codemaker) chooses a secret code which the second player (codebreaker) is supposed to crack within a minimum number of code guesses (queries). Therefore, the codemaker’s duty is to help the codebreaker by providing a well-defined error measure between the secret code and the guessed code after each query. We consider a variant, called Yes-No AB-Mastermind, where both secret code and queries must be repetition-free and the provided information by the codemaker only indicates if a query contains any correct position at all. For this Mastermind version with n positions and k ≥ n colors and ` := k + 1 − n, we prove a lower bound of ∑ k j=` log 2 j and an upper bound of n log 2 n + k on the number of queries necessary to break the secret code. For the important case k = n, where both secret code and queries represent permutations, our results imply an exact asymptotic complexity of Θ (n log n) queries

Improved Approximation Algorithm for the Number of Queries Necessary to Identify a Permutation

In the past three decades, deductive games have become interesting from the algorithmic point of view. Deductive games are two players zero sum games of imperfect information. The first player, called "codemaker", chooses a secret code and the second player, called "codebreaker", tries to break the secret code by making as few guesses as possible, exploiting information that is given by the codemaker after each guess. A well known deductive game is the famous Mastermind game. In this paper, we consider the so called Black-Peg variant of Mastermind, where the only information concerning a guess is the number of positions in which the guess coincides with the secret code. More precisely, we deal with a special version of the Black-Peg game with n holes and k >= n colors where no repetition of colors is allowed. We present a strategy that identifies the secret code in O(n log n) queries. Our algorithm improves the previous result of Ker-I Ko and Shia-Chung Teng (1985) by almost a factor of 2 for the case k = n. To our knowledge there is no previous work dealing with the case k > n. Keywords: Mastermind; combinatorial problems; permutations; algorithm

Randomisierte Approximation für das Matching- und Knotenüberdeckung Problem in Hypergraphen: Komplexität und Algorithmen

This thesis studies the design and mathematical analysis of randomized approximation algorithms for the hitting set and b-matching problems in hypergraphs. We present a randomized algorithm for the hitting set problem based on linear programming. The analysis of the randomized algorithm rests upon the probabilistic method, more precisely on some concentration inequalities for the sum of independent random variables plus some martingale based inequalities, as the bounded difference inequality, which is a derived from Azuma inequality. In combination with combinatorial arguments we achieve some new results for different instance classes that improve upon the known approximation results for the problem (Krevilevich (1997), Halperin (2001)). We analyze the complexity of the b-matching problem in hypergraphs and obtain two new results. We give a polynomial time reduction from an instance of a suitable problem to an instance of the b-matching problem and prove a non-approximability ratio for the problem in l-uniform hypergraphs. This generalizes the result of Safra et al. (2006) from b=1 to b in O(l/log(l)). Safra et al. showed that the 1-matching problem in l-uniform hypergraphs can not be approximated in polynomial time within a ratio O(l/log(l)), unless P = NP. Moreover, we show that the b-matching problem on l-uniform hypergraphs with bounded vertex degree has no polynomial time approximation scheme PTAS, unless P=NP.Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Entwurf und der mathematischen Analyse von randomisierten Approximationsalgorithmen für das Hitting Set Problem und das b-Matching Problem in Hypergraphen. Zuerst präsentieren wir einen randomisierten Algorithmus für das Hitting Set Problem, der auf linearer Programmierung basiert. Mit diesem Verfahren und einer Analyse, die auf der probabilistischen Methode fußt, erreichen wir für verschiedene Klassen von Instanzen drei neue Approximationsgüten, die die bisher bekannten Ergebnisse (Krevilevich [1997], Halperin [2001]) für das Problem verbessern. Die Analysen beruhen auf Konzentrationsungleichungen für Summen von unabhängigen Zufallsvariablen aber auch Martingal-basierten Ungleichungen, wie die aus der Azuma-Ungleichung abgeleitete Bounded Difference-Inequality, in Kombination mit kombinatorischen Argumenten. Für das b-Matching Problem in Hypergraphen analysieren wir zunächst seine Komplexität und erhalten zwei neue Ergebnisse. Wir geben eine polynomielle Reduktion von einer Instanz eines geeigneten Problems zu einer Instanz des b-Matching-Problems an und zeigen ein Nicht-Approximierbarkeitsresultat für das Problem in uniformen Hypergraphen. Dieses Resultat verallgemeinert das Ergebnis von Safra et al. (2006) von b = 1 auf b in O(l/log(l))). Safra et al. zeigten, dass es für das 1-Matching Problem in uniformen Hypergraphen unter der Annahme P != NP keinen polynomiellen Approximationsalgorithmus mit einer Ratio O(l/log(l)) gibt. Weiterhin beweisen wir, dass es in uniformen Hypergraphen mit beschränktem Knoten-Grad kein PTAS für das Problem gibt, es sei denn P = NP

On the Query Complexity of Black-Peg AB-Mastermind

Mastermind is a two players zero sum game of imperfect information. Starting with Erd˝os and Rényi (1963), its combinatorics have been studied to date by several authors, e.g., Knuth (1977), Chvátal (1983), Goodrich (2009). The first player, called “codemaker”, chooses a secret code and the second player, called “codebreaker”, tries to break the secret code by making as few guesses as possible, exploiting information that is given by the codemaker after each guess. For variants that allow color repetition, Doerr et al. (2016) showed optimal results. In this paper, we consider the so called Black-Peg variant of Mastermind, where the only information concerning a guess is the number of positions in which the guess coincides with the secret code. More precisely, we deal with a special version of the Black-Peg game with n holes and k ≥ n colors where no repetition of colors is allowed. We present upper and lower bounds on the number of guesses necessary to break the secret code. For the case k = n, the secret code can be algorithmically identified within less than (n − 3)dlog 2 ne + 5 2 n − 1 queries. This result improves the result of Ker-I Ko and Shia-Chung Teng (1985) by almost a factor of 2. For the case k > n, we prove an upper bound of (n − 2)dlog 2 ne + k + 1. Furthermore, we prove a new lower bound of n for the case k = n, which improves the recent n − log log(n) bound of Berger et al. (2016). We then generalize this lower bound to k queries for the case k ≥ n

Exact and heuristic algorithms for the Travelling Salesman Problem with Multiple Time Windows and Hotel Selection

We introduce and study the Travelling Salesman Problem with Multiple Time Windows and Hotel Selection (TSP-MTWHS), which generalises the well-known Travelling Salesman Problem with Time Windows and the recently introduced Travelling Salesman Problem with Hotel Selection. The TSP-MTWHS consists in determining a route for a salesman (eg, an employee of a services company) who visits various customers at different locations and different time windows. The salesman may require a several-day tour during which he may need to stay in hotels. The goal is to minimise the tour costs consisting of wage, hotel costs, travelling expenses and penalty fees for possibly omitted customers. We present a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model for this practical problem and a heuristic combining cheapest insert, 2-OPT and randomised restarting. We show on random instances and on real world instances from industry that the MlLP model can be solved to optimality in reasonable time with a standard MILP solver for several small instances. We also show that the heuristic gives the same solutions for most of the small instances, and is also fast, efficient and practical for large instances