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Aviad Rubinstein

@aviad-rubinstein

Algorithms for Toddlers (https://youtu.be/nnLOi3ia210) | Algorithms for Teenagers (https://tinyurl.com/2cnp39cf) | Algorithms for Grown Ups (http://dblp.org/pid/11/10308)

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27.01.2025
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Latest posts by Aviad Rubinstein @aviad-rubinstein

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Pure-Circuit: Tight Inapproximability for PPAD The current state-of-the-art methods for showing inapproximability in PPAD arise from the $\varepsilon$-Generalized-Circuit ($\varepsilon$-GCircuit) problem. Rubinstein (2018) showed that there exists...

It builds, to some extent, on 2 other really cool papers that were not available in 2019:

arxiv.org/abs/2011.01929

arxiv.org/abs/2209.15149

But I have known about these 2 papers for a while, and it would have never even crossed my mind to try to use those techniques for the min-max problem.

03.03.2026 21:12 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The Complexity of Min-Max Optimization with Product Constraints We study the computational complexity of the problem of computing local min-max equilibria of games with a nonconvex-nonconcave utility function $f$. From the work of Daskalakis, Skoulakis, and Zampet...

This is a really cool paper:

arxiv.org/abs/2602.04665

(Posted on arXiv a month ago, but I was so amazed by the techniques that it took me a month of reading it back and forth to post here.)

I have been thinking about this problem since Yair Carmon and John Duchi told me about it in 2019.

03.03.2026 21:09 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Apps like Family Link are far from perfect but give me some level of control over my kids' screentime. But major GenAI models don't want to mess with the responsibility of releasing kids versions, so I have to give my kids access to my account. I wonder what could possibly go wrong ๐Ÿค”

19.01.2026 18:36 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I agree that academic awards are more fun when you win them, but let me tell you what really makes me jealous: I broke my left pinkie a couple of months ago, and even though it's much recovered, watching this gif that you posted just bending every joint so smoothly...

19.01.2026 18:30 ๐Ÿ‘ 2 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Staff Writer (Mathematics), Quanta Magazine POSITION SUMMARY Quanta Magazine is seeking a first-rate reporter and writer to identify and cover newsworthy developments in mathematics. The ideal candidate will have tireless appetite for exploring...

There is a job posting for a mathematics staff writer at @quantamagazine.bsky.social:
simonsfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/simons...

Maybe this is good for you or somebody you know!

#MathSky ๐Ÿงฎ #iTeachMath โ™พ๏ธ

25.12.2025 17:31 ๐Ÿ‘ 32 ๐Ÿ” 16 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
Sign in - Google Accounts

๐Ÿคฉ Excited to officially announce our upcoming local Theory-CS conference "TOCA-SV" (11/7 at Stanford):

sites.google.com/cs.stanford....

23.10.2025 20:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Student Researcher, PhD, Winter/Summer 2026 โ€” Google Careers

Are you a PhD student in quantum computing and interested in working with our team in 2026 as a student researcher (i.e., an internship that's ~3 months and in-person at our office)? If so, apply here:

www.google.com/about/career...

15.10.2025 05:26 ๐Ÿ‘ 13 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Stanford University, Computer Science/Theory Lab/Stanford University Job #AJO30865, Postdoc in Theoretical Computer Science at Stanford, Computer Science/Theory Lab/Stanford University, Stanford University, Stanford, California, US

The new call for Motwani postdocs application is now open!
academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30865

BTW-

Not quite ready for a postdoc? We updated the TCS Masters programs spreadsheet:
www.cs.princeton.edu/~smattw/mast...

Any career stage and in the (SF) Bay Area?
Save the date for TOCA-SV on 11/7!

13.10.2025 20:42 ๐Ÿ‘ 14 ๐Ÿ” 8 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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SIGecom Job Candidates 2025-2026 Just like in the last 10 years, this year there will be an article in SIGecom Exchanges profiling the current junior job market candidates from the SIGecom community. These profiles will include a res...

It is that time of year again to gather all the profiles of SIGecom job market candidates!

Share this with any job market candidate at the intersection of Econ, CS, and OR that you may know.

Candidates should complete the submission form (docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...) by October 7th, 2025.

30.09.2025 22:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 8 ๐Ÿ” 4 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

The free link no longer works. Is there a tl;dr for those of us too lazy to remember how to login?

26.09.2025 03:56 ๐Ÿ‘ 0 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Recent good looking market design papers I hope to read (on auctions, unraveling, and interviews) I'll post market design related news and items about repugnant markets. See also my Stanford profile. I have a general-interest book on market design: Who Gets What--and Why The subtitle is "The new economics of matchmaking and market design."

Market design is growing fastโ€ฆ
#econsky
marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/09/rece...

17.09.2025 12:04 ๐Ÿ‘ 8 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

PS: The algorithm is actually so simple (in hindsight) that you can teach it in your ottergraduate class.

And it's time that someone finally figures out what happens when you have 5 agents!

19.09.2025 02:03 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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The otter on this small sticker is still trying to understand our algorithm (w/ Alexandros Hollender) for cake cutting with 4 agents arxiv.org/abs/2311.02075.

Sticker design credit: Eva Tardos.

19.09.2025 02:02 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Very cool! Is there an easy to explain application of EVI (beyond correlated equilibrium)?

16.07.2025 13:33 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
2025 Call For Ethics Reviewers If you are able and willing to participate in the review process, please sign up at this form. Feel free to share this call with your colleagues.

NeurIPS is seeking additional ethics reviewers this year. If you are able and willing to participate in the review process, please sign up at the form in the link:
neurips.cc/Conferences/...
Please share this call with your colleagues!

02.07.2025 16:06 ๐Ÿ‘ 11 ๐Ÿ” 8 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

This best paper news is a good opportunity to highlight that a month or so ago I started maintaining CV of failures on my website. It will almost certainly continue to grow linearly in the number of things I attempt to do, and thatโ€™s a good thing! www.seas.upenn.edu/~ncollina/Fa...

03.07.2025 17:20 ๐Ÿ‘ 14 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Edit-a-thon Let's get together and create or edit Wikipedia pages for EconCS entries. Both new and experienced Wiki editors are welcome!

See everyone at #ACMEC25 on Monday, July 7!

And while you're there, join us July 8, 8-10pm in Stanford Econ Landau 139 for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon!

Feel free to contribute to the crowdsourced list of topics that need attention: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

02.07.2025 19:59 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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Wikipedia edit-a-thon @ EC'25 Please fill out the following information to help us plan the event. Please note: participants are asked to bring their own laptop or other device. Power outlets and snacks will be provided. Suggest ...

Sign up here to let us know you are interested: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

02.07.2025 20:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 1 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Join us for a Wikipedia edit-a-thon at #ACMEC25!
When: July 8th, 8PM-10PM
Where: Stanford Econ Landau 139
Website: sites.google.com/view/econcs-...

Come hangout, grab snacks, and edit/create Wikipedia pages for EC topics.

Suggest topics/articles that need attention: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

02.07.2025 20:17 ๐Ÿ‘ 12 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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ICML's election for their board of directors has begun. I've thrown my hat in the ring. Please consider voting for Gautam Kamath.

I have experience with the governance of TMLR, COLT, and ALT, and I think I've demonstrated myself as a consciencious and engaged community member.

30.06.2025 12:44 ๐Ÿ‘ 30 ๐Ÿ” 5 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1
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Word of the Day: spectral

Finally, a NYT word-of-the-day that I recognize ;)

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/l...

26.06.2025 21:46 ๐Ÿ‘ 4 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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Congratulations to Xiao Mao, a CS PhD student and advisee of Aviadโ€ฆ | Stanford University Department of Computer Science Congratulations to Xiao Mao, a CS PhD student and advisee of Aviad Rubinstein. He co-authored a paper titled "Breaking the Sorting Barrier for Directed Single-Source Shortest Paths," which w...

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

15.05.2025 20:37 ๐Ÿ‘ 8 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Algorithms For Toddlers!
Algorithms For Toddlers! YouTube video by Mary Wootters

Today I stumbled across a book called Algorithms for Toddlers. Perfect for kids -- or your own inner toddler!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnLO...

03.04.2025 20:54 ๐Ÿ‘ 53 ๐Ÿ” 6 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Yes, Europe too :(. I am not sure I would recommend B&N in hindsight...

But that should be my problem, not yours! DM me your address...

04.03.2025 03:45 ๐Ÿ‘ 1 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I still didn't find the right url, but I really hope that in the video you're reading Algorithms for Toddlers!

03.03.2025 22:26 ๐Ÿ‘ 3 ๐Ÿ” 0 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Alphanumeric citations [ABC00] strike the right balance between compactness & communication.

Plain numeric citations [1] are compact, but convey no information.

Author-year citations (Aaronson, Barrington, & Coppersmith, 2000) are too verbose, even if abbreviated (Aaronson et al. 2000).

03.03.2025 06:00 ๐Ÿ‘ 42 ๐Ÿ” 6 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 6 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
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TCS+ RSVP: Prasanna Ramakrishnan (2025/03/05) Title: How to Appease a Voter Majority

๐Ÿ“ข To kick off 2025, our first TCS+ talk will be next Wednesday, March 5 (10amPT, 1pm ET, 19:00 CET): Prasanna Ramakrishnan (@pras17.bsky.social), from the Stanford, will tell "How to Appease a Voter Majority"!

RSVP to receive the link (available one day prior to the talk):
forms.gle/DDFtJKi2Xoj6...

27.02.2025 00:51 ๐Ÿ‘ 6 ๐Ÿ” 3 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 3
Vite + React + TS

#STOC2025 (June 23-27, Prague) Theory Fest is looking for workshop proposals. The deadline is March 9th.

Apply here: stoc2025theoryfest.netlify.app

27.02.2025 12:51 ๐Ÿ‘ 9 ๐Ÿ” 7 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I find another selfish motivation to spend a lot of time on reviewing papers for all these venues - it forces me to critically read the submissions. This is both a great way to stay on top of what people in the field are doing, and practice thinking about how others will eventually read my papers.

27.02.2025 14:30 ๐Ÿ‘ 8 ๐Ÿ” 2 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

This is terrible news, and part of the ongoing assault on science in the U.S. by the new administration.

To honor Tracy Kimbrel and his service to the NSF's AF division, here's a short thread about a beautiful algorithm of his, joint with Rakesh Sinha (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...). 1/

21.02.2025 04:50 ๐Ÿ‘ 11 ๐Ÿ” 6 ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1 ๐Ÿ“Œ 0