2 Search Results for "Ben-Amram, Amir M."

Document
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.92
On Piecewise Affine Reachability with Bellman Operators

Authors: Anton Varonka and Kazuki Watanabe

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 345, 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)

Abstract
A piecewise affine map is one of the simplest mathematical objects exhibiting complex dynamics. The reachability problem of piecewise affine maps is as follows: Given two vectors s, t ∈ ℚ^d and a piecewise affine map f: ℚ^d → ℚ^d, is there n ∈ ℕ such that fⁿ(s) = t? Koiran, Cosnard, and Garzon show that the reachability problem of piecewise affine maps is undecidable even in dimension 2. Most of the recent progress has been focused on decision procedures for one-dimensional piecewise affine maps, where the reachability problem has been shown to be decidable for some subclasses. However, the general undecidability discouraged research into positive results in arbitrary dimension. In this work, we investigate a rich subclass of piecewise affine maps arising as Bellman operators of Markov decision processes (MDPs). We consider the reachability problem restricted to this subclass and examine its decidability in arbitrary dimensions. We establish that the reachability problem for Bellman operators is decidable in any dimension under either of the following conditions: (i) the target vector t is not the fixed point of the operator f; or (ii) the initial and target vectors s and t are comparable with respect to the componentwise order. Furthermore, we show that the reachability problem for two-dimensional Bellman operators is decidable for arbitrary s, t ∈ ℚ^d, in contrast to the known undecidability of reachability for general piecewise affine maps.
Cite as

Anton Varonka and Kazuki Watanabe. On Piecewise Affine Reachability with Bellman Operators. In 50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 345, pp. 92:1-92:18, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{varonka_et_al:LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.92,
  author =	{Varonka, Anton and Watanabe, Kazuki},
  title =	{{On Piecewise Affine Reachability with Bellman Operators}},
  booktitle =	{50th International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2025)},
  pages =	{92:1--92:18},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-388-1},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{345},
  editor =	{Gawrychowski, Pawe{\l} and Mazowiecki, Filip and Skrzypczak, Micha{\l}},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.92},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-241998},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2025.92},
  annote =	{Keywords: piecewise affine map, reachability, value iteration, Markov decision process, Bellman operator}
}
Document
Extended Abstract
DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2013.514
Mortality of Iterated Piecewise Affine Functions over the Integers: Decidability and Complexity (Extended Abstract)

Authors: Amir M. Ben-Amram

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 20, 30th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2013)

Abstract
In the theory of discrete-time dynamical systems, one studies the limiting behaviour of processes defined by iterating a fixed function f over a given space. A much-studied case involves piecewise affine functions on R^n. Blondel et al. (2001) studied the decidability of questions such as mortality for such functions with rational coefficients. Mortality means that every trajectory includes a 0; if the iteration is seen as a loop while (x \ne 0) x := f(x), mortality means that the loop is guaranteed to terminate. Blondel et al. proved that the problems are undecidable when the dimension n of the state space is at least two. They assume that the variables range over the rationals; this is an essential assumption. From a program analysis (and discrete Computability) viewpoint, it would be more interesting to consider integer-valued variables. This paper establishes (un)decidability results for the integer setting. We show that also over integers, undecidability (moreover, Pi^0_2 completeness) begins at two dimensions. We further investigate the effect of several restrictions on the iterated functions. Specifically, we consider bounding the size of the partition defining f, and restricting the coefficients of the linear components. In the decidable cases, we give complexity results. The complexity is PTIME for affine functions, but for piecewise-affine ones it is PSPACE-complete. The undecidability proofs use some variants of the Collatz problem, which may be of independent interest.
Cite as

Amir M. Ben-Amram. Mortality of Iterated Piecewise Affine Functions over the Integers: Decidability and Complexity (Extended Abstract). In 30th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2013). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 20, pp. 514-525, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2013)

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@InProceedings{benamram:LIPIcs.STACS.2013.514,
  author =	{Ben-Amram, Amir M.},
  title =	{{Mortality of Iterated Piecewise Affine Functions over the Integers: Decidability and Complexity}},
  booktitle =	{30th International Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS 2013)},
  pages =	{514--525},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-939897-50-7},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2013},
  volume =	{20},
  editor =	{Portier, Natacha and Wilke, Thomas},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2013.514},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-39615},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.STACS.2013.514},
  annote =	{Keywords: discrete-time dynamical systems, termination, Collatz problem}
}
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