Department of Mathematics,
University of California San Diego
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Food for Thought
Sam Spiro
UCSD
Semi-restricted Rock, Paper, Scissors
Abstract:
Consider the following variant of Rock, Paper, Scissors (RPS) played by two players Rei and Norman. The game consists of $3n$ rounds of RPS, with the twist being that Rei (the restricted player) must use each of Rock, Paper, and Scissors exactly $n$ times during the $3n$ rounds, while Norman is allowed to play normally without any restrictions. We show that a certain greedy strategy is the unique optimal strategy for Rei in this game, and that Norman's expected score is $\Theta(\sqrt{n})$. We also prove several general theorems about semi-restricted games arising from digraphs. This is joint work with Erlang Surya, Yuanfan Wang, Ji Zeng.
May 2, 2022
4:00 PM
AP&M 5402
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