TY - UNPB
T1 - Solving simple stochastic games with few coin toss positions
AU - Ibsen-Jensen, Rasmus
AU - Miltersen, Peter Bro
N1 - Available at arxiv.org, Cornell University
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Gimbert and Horn gave an algorithm for solving simple stochastic games with running time O(r! n) where n is the number of positions of the simple stochastic game and r is the number of its coin toss positions. Chatterjee et al. pointed out that a variant of strategy iteration can be implemented to solve this problem in time 4^r r^{O(1)} n^{O(1)}. In this paper, we show that an algorithm combining value iteration with retrograde analysis achieves a time bound of O(r 2^r (r log r + n)), thus improving both time bounds. While the algorithm is simple, the analysis leading to this time bound is involved, using techniques of extremal combinatorics to identify worst case instances for the algorithm.
AB - Gimbert and Horn gave an algorithm for solving simple stochastic games with running time O(r! n) where n is the number of positions of the simple stochastic game and r is the number of its coin toss positions. Chatterjee et al. pointed out that a variant of strategy iteration can be implemented to solve this problem in time 4^r r^{O(1)} n^{O(1)}. In this paper, we show that an algorithm combining value iteration with retrograde analysis achieves a time bound of O(r 2^r (r log r + n)), thus improving both time bounds. While the algorithm is simple, the analysis leading to this time bound is involved, using techniques of extremal combinatorics to identify worst case instances for the algorithm.
M3 - Working paper
BT - Solving simple stochastic games with few coin toss positions
ER -