Cutoff phenomenon: Surprising behaviour in card shuffling and other Markov chains

Snapshots of modern mathematics from Oberwolfach

Cutoff phenomenon: Surprising behaviour in card shuffling and other Markov chains

This snapshot compares two techniques of shuffling a deck of cards, asking how long it will take to shuffle the cards until a “well-mixed deck” is obtained. Surprisingly, the number of shuffles can be very different for very similar looking shuffling techniques. 

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Mathematical subjects

Probability Theory and Statistics

Connections to other fields

Humanities and Social Sciences
Physics

Author(s)

Isabelle Baraquin, Nadia Lafrenière, Katharina Schuh

License

DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

10.14760/SNAP-2023-005-EN

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snapshot-2023-005.pdf

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