{"paper":{"title":"Twenty (simple) questions","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cs.DS","cs.IT","cs.LG","math.CO","math.IT"],"primary_cat":"cs.DM","authors_text":"Ariel Gabizon, Shay Moran, Yuval Dagan, Yuval Filmus","submitted_at":"2016-11-05T13:55:25Z","abstract_excerpt":"A basic combinatorial interpretation of Shannon's entropy function is via the \"20 questions\" game. This cooperative game is played by two players, Alice and Bob: Alice picks a distribution $\\pi$ over the numbers $\\{1,\\ldots,n\\}$, and announces it to Bob. She then chooses a number $x$ according to $\\pi$, and Bob attempts to identify $x$ using as few Yes/No queries as possible, on average.\n  An optimal strategy for the \"20 questions\" game is given by a Huffman code for $\\pi$: Bob's questions reveal the codeword for $x$ bit by bit. This strategy finds $x$ using fewer than $H(\\pi)+1$ questions on "},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1611.01655","kind":"arxiv","version":3},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}