Papers for

online algorithm developers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Matroid secretary problem solved for linear matroids with 1 over e guarantee

The Strong Secretary Conjecture is True for Linear Matroids

Abstract: We prove a $1/e$ guarantee for the matroid secretary problem on linear matroids, therefore settling the strong secretary conjecture in this class of matroids. The result holds both when the matroid is known in advance and when a linear representation over a finite field is given online. In the known-matroid model, the result extends more generally to matroids admitting a finitary modular extension. Each element of a fixed optimal basis is selected with probability at least $1/e$. $\mathbf{\text{Concurrent Discovery Disclosure:}}$ The proof of the main result in this manuscript was obtained in a conversation with ChatGPT-6 Astra on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 1:02 AM PDT. We then prepared this manuscript for public release, with the intent of uploading it on the morning of Thursday, September 17, 2026. In the early morning hours of September 17, while finalizing the submission, we discovered the manuscript https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.19118 of Abdi, Banihashem, Hajiaghayi, and Mittal, uploaded on September 16, 2026, which contains the same result via an essentially identical approach. We are sharing our manuscript nonetheless in case our exposition is of independent utility to the community, and we hope this experience stimulates broader discussion about concurrent discovery in the AI era.

Thu 17 SeptData Structures and Algorithms
The gist
The matroid secretary problem is about choosing the best combination of items when they arrive one by one in random order, without knowing the future. This paper proves that for linear matroids—a kind of mathematical structure used to model independence—the authors can select each optimal item with at least a 1/e (around 37%) chance. This confirms a long-standing conjecture for this class of problems. Their approach works both when the matroid is fully known in advance and when it is revealed step-by-step over a finite field.
Open 2609.20797v1