2013 COLT COLT 2013

Bounded regret in stochastic multi-armed bandits

Abstract

We study the stochastic multi-armed bandit problem when one knows the value μ^(⋆) of an optimal arm, as a well as a positive lower bound on the smallest positive gap ∆. We propose a new randomized policy that attains a regret uniformly bounded over time in this setting. We also prove several lower bounds, which show in particular that bounded regret is not possible if one only knows ∆, and bounded regret of order 1/∆is not possible if one only knows μ^(⋆).

🧭 Keyword Pioneer — stochastic policy
🐣 Hot Topic Early Bird — multi-armed bandit
🐝 Cross-Pollinator — Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Data Science & Analytics, Deep Learning, Interdisciplinary, Machine Learning, Mathematics & Optimization, Natural Language Processing, Reinforcement Learning
🌉 Interdisciplinary Bridge — Machine Learning and Mathematics & Optimization