Axiomatic and Erdős-Moon approaches to tournament rankings

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Nokhrin, Sergei, Patrakeev, Mikhail
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Nokhrin, Sergei
Patrakeev, Mikhail
author_facet Nokhrin, Sergei
Patrakeev, Mikhail
contents Tournament ranking is a function that assigns each vertex of a tournament (i.e., a directed graph without loops, in which each pair of different vertexes is connected by exactly one arc) a number called the rank of the vertex. One of approaches to constructing tournament rankings suggests choosing a ranking that satisfies a fixed set of axioms. In another approach, proposed by Erdős and Moon, only injective rankings are considered, and among them, one that minimises the number of backward arcs is selected (an arc $x\to y$ is called backward iff the rank of $x$ is less than the rank of $y$). We combine these two approaches as follows: among the rankings that satisfy a fixed set of axioms, we choose one that minimises the number of backward arcs. The Erdős-Moon approach naturally leads to the question of how small the proportion of backward arcs can be guaranteed when using injective rankings. Erdős and Moon showed that the answer to this question is $1/2$. A similar question arises in our approach: how small the proportion of backward arcs can be guaranteed when using rankings that satisfy a set of axioms $\mathcal{A}$? We call this number the Erdős-Moon number of $\mathcal{A}$. We prove that the Erdős-Moon number of the Copeland axiom equals $3/4$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_11037
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Axiomatic and Erdős-Moon approaches to tournament rankings
Nokhrin, Sergei
Patrakeev, Mikhail
Combinatorics
05C20
Tournament ranking is a function that assigns each vertex of a tournament (i.e., a directed graph without loops, in which each pair of different vertexes is connected by exactly one arc) a number called the rank of the vertex. One of approaches to constructing tournament rankings suggests choosing a ranking that satisfies a fixed set of axioms. In another approach, proposed by Erdős and Moon, only injective rankings are considered, and among them, one that minimises the number of backward arcs is selected (an arc $x\to y$ is called backward iff the rank of $x$ is less than the rank of $y$). We combine these two approaches as follows: among the rankings that satisfy a fixed set of axioms, we choose one that minimises the number of backward arcs. The Erdős-Moon approach naturally leads to the question of how small the proportion of backward arcs can be guaranteed when using injective rankings. Erdős and Moon showed that the answer to this question is $1/2$. A similar question arises in our approach: how small the proportion of backward arcs can be guaranteed when using rankings that satisfy a set of axioms $\mathcal{A}$? We call this number the Erdős-Moon number of $\mathcal{A}$. We prove that the Erdős-Moon number of the Copeland axiom equals $3/4$.
title Axiomatic and Erdős-Moon approaches to tournament rankings
topic Combinatorics
05C20
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.11037