Article ID: | iaor201524031 |
Volume: | 61 |
Issue: | 5 |
Start Page Number: | 359 |
End Page Number: | 364 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2014 |
Journal: | Naval Research Logistics (NRL) |
Authors: | Chen Kai, Ross Sheldon M |
Keywords: | combinatorial optimization, stochastic processes |
We consider the burglar problem in which a burglar can either retire or choose among different types of burglaries, with each type having its own success probability and reward distribution. Some general structural results are established and, in the case of exponentially distributed reward distributions, a solution technique is presented. The burglar problem's relationship to a stochastic knapsack problem with a random exponentially distributed knapsack capacity is shown.