Multiplicative Rewards in Markovian Models

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Contributors

Abstract

This paper studies the expected value of multiplicative rewards, where rewards obtained in each step are multiplied (instead of the usual addition), in Markov chains (MCs) and Markov decision processes (MDPs). One of the key differences to additive rewards is that the expected value may diverge to ∞ not only due to recurrent, but also due to transient states.For MCs, computing the value is shown to be possible in polynomial time given an oracle for the comparison of succinctly represented integers (CSRI), which is only known to be solvable in polynomial time subject to number-theoretic conjectures. Interestingly, distinguishing whether the value is ∞ or 0 is at least as hard as CSRI, while determining if it is one of these two can be done in polynomial time. In MDPs, the optimal value can be computed in polynomial space. Further refined complexity results and results on the complexity of optimal schedulers are presented. The techniques developed for MDPs additionally allow to solve the multiplicative variant of the stochastic shortest path problem. Finally, for MCs and MDPs where an absorbing state is reached almost surely, all considered problems are solvable in polynomial time.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 40th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science, LICS 2025
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Pages499-512
Number of pages14
ISBN (electronic)979-8-3315-7900-5
ISBN (print)979-8-3315-7901-2
Publication statusPublished - 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesProceedings - Symposium on Logic in Computer Science
ISSN1043-6871

Conference

Title40th Annual ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science
Abbreviated titleLICS 2025
Conference number40
Duration23 - 26 June 2025
Website
LocationNational University of Singapore
CitySingapore
CountrySingapore

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-5321-9343/work/204613772
ORCID /0000-0003-4829-0476/work/204616310

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Keywords

  • Markov Decision Processes, Markov Chains