Online Sampling and Decision Making with Low Entropy

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Main Authors: Hajiaghayi, Mohammad Taghi, Kowalski, Dariusz R., Krysta, Piotr, Olkowski, Jan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Hajiaghayi, Mohammad Taghi
Kowalski, Dariusz R.
Krysta, Piotr
Olkowski, Jan
author_facet Hajiaghayi, Mohammad Taghi
Kowalski, Dariusz R.
Krysta, Piotr
Olkowski, Jan
contents Consider the problem: we are given $n$ boxes, labeled $\{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ by an adversary, each containing a single number chosen from an unknown distribution; these $n$ distributions are not necessarily identical. We are also given an integer $k \leq n$. We have to choose an order in which we will sequentially open these boxes, and each time we open the next box in this order, we learn the number in the box. Once we reject a number in a box, the box cannot be recalled. Our goal is to accept $k$ of these numbers, without necessarily opening all boxes, such that the accepted numbers are the $k$ largest numbers in the boxes (thus their sum is maximized). A natural approach to solve such problems is to use randomness to sample randomly ordered elements, however, as indicated in several sources, e.g., Turan et al. NIST'15, Bierhorst et al. Nature'18, pure randomness is hard to get in reality. We present an algorithm for this problem, which is provably and simultaneously near-optimal with respect to the achieved competitive ratio and the used amount of randomness. In particular, we construct a distribution on the orders with entropy $Θ(\log\log n)$ such that a deterministic multiple-threshold algorithm gives a competitive ratio $1-O(\sqrt{\log k/k})$, for $k < \log n/\log \log n$. Our competitive ratio is simultaneously optimal and uses optimal entropy $Θ(\log\log n)$, improving in three ways the previous best known algorithm, whose competitive ratio is $1 - O(1/k^{1/3}) - o(1)$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2111_13203
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Online Sampling and Decision Making with Low Entropy
Hajiaghayi, Mohammad Taghi
Kowalski, Dariusz R.
Krysta, Piotr
Olkowski, Jan
Data Structures and Algorithms
Consider the problem: we are given $n$ boxes, labeled $\{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ by an adversary, each containing a single number chosen from an unknown distribution; these $n$ distributions are not necessarily identical. We are also given an integer $k \leq n$. We have to choose an order in which we will sequentially open these boxes, and each time we open the next box in this order, we learn the number in the box. Once we reject a number in a box, the box cannot be recalled. Our goal is to accept $k$ of these numbers, without necessarily opening all boxes, such that the accepted numbers are the $k$ largest numbers in the boxes (thus their sum is maximized). A natural approach to solve such problems is to use randomness to sample randomly ordered elements, however, as indicated in several sources, e.g., Turan et al. NIST'15, Bierhorst et al. Nature'18, pure randomness is hard to get in reality. We present an algorithm for this problem, which is provably and simultaneously near-optimal with respect to the achieved competitive ratio and the used amount of randomness. In particular, we construct a distribution on the orders with entropy $Θ(\log\log n)$ such that a deterministic multiple-threshold algorithm gives a competitive ratio $1-O(\sqrt{\log k/k})$, for $k < \log n/\log \log n$. Our competitive ratio is simultaneously optimal and uses optimal entropy $Θ(\log\log n)$, improving in three ways the previous best known algorithm, whose competitive ratio is $1 - O(1/k^{1/3}) - o(1)$.
title Online Sampling and Decision Making with Low Entropy
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2111.13203