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October 3, 2025Open Access

Optimal 4-Approximation for the Correlated Pandora's Problem

NBNikhil BansalAgency for Science, Technology and Research ZHZhiyi HuangUniversity of Hong Kong ZZZhongkui ZhuSoochow University

Key Points

The study offers an optimal 4-approximation for the correlated pandora's problem, enhancing algorithmic efficiency.
A direct correlation is drawn with the min sum set cover problem, achieving a matching lower bound of 4.
Previous work on the classical pandora's problem is extended by incorporating correlations into the underlying numbers.
Finding effective solutions in this context has implications for decision tree algorithms and related computational problems.

Abstract

The Correlated Pandora's Problem posed by Chawla et al. (2020) generalizes the classical Pandora's Problem by allowing the numbers inside the Pandora's boxes to be correlated. It also generalizes the Min Sum Set Cover problem, and is related to the Uniform Decision Tree problem. This paper gives an optimal 4-approximation for the Correlated Pandora's Problem, matching the lower bound of 4 from Min Sum Set Cover.

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