Dreidel Lasts $O(N^2)$ Spins
| dc.creator | Robinson, Thomas | |
| dc.creator | Vijay, Sujith | |
| dc.date | 2004-03-24 | |
| dc.date | 2004-08-19 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T05:06:41Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T05:06:41Z | |
| dc.description | Dreidel is a popular game played during the festival of Chanukah. Players start with an equal number of tokens, donate one token each to a common pot, and take turns spinning a four-sided top, called the dreidel. Depending on the side showing up, the spinner takes all the tokens in the pot, takes half the tokens in the pot, gives a token to the pot, or does nothing. Whenever the pot goes empty, everyone donates a token to the pot. The game continues till all players, except one, go broke. We prove that the expected length of a game of dreidel is at most quadratic in the number of tokens, irrespective of the number of players. This proves a conjecture of Doron Zeilberger. | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0403404 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0403404 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/70570 | |
| dc.subject | Combinatorics | |
| dc.title | Dreidel Lasts $O(N^2)$ Spins | |
| dc.type | text |