Tight Probability Bounds with Pairwise Independence

While useful probability bounds for \(n\) pairwise independent Bernoulli random variables adding up to at least an integer \(k\) have been proposed in the literature, none of these bounds are tight in general. In this paper, we provide several results in this direction. Firstly, when \(k = 1\), the tightest upper bound on the probability … Read more

Trioid: A generalization of matroid and the associated polytope

We consider a generalization of the well known greedy algorithm, called $m$-step greedy algorithm, where $m$ elements are examined in each iteration. When $m=1$ or $2$, the algorithm reduces to the standard greedy algorithm. For $m=3$ we provide a complete characterization of the independence system, called trioid, where the $m$-step greedy algorithm guarantees an optimal … Read more

Polymatroids and Mean-Risk Minimization in Discrete Optimization

In financial markets high levels of risk are associated with large returns as well as large losses, whereas with lower levels of risk, the potential for either return or loss is small. Therefore, risk management is fundamentally concerned with finding an optimal trade-off between risk and return matching an investor’s risk tolerance. Managing risk is … Read more