Talk:Monte Carlo algorithm

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Relation to Monte Carlo method[edit]

A Monte Carlo algorithm is more general than the Monte Carlo method (which is basically a sampling technique). Schizoid (talk) 05:21, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. I reverted a previous change which simply made the article a redirect to Monte Carlo method. Justin W Smith ^talk/_stalk 02:26, 27 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Monte Carlo method page currently states "Monte Carlo methods [..] are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling", so it doesn't look like it's just a sampling technique, is it? I think that merging the two pages should be considered again. --William Di Luigi (talk) 19:47, 1 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Monte Carlo algorithms have nothing at all to do with sampling. They are quite different subjects. Why do you think they should be merged? —David Eppstein (talk) 20:29, 1 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

problematic paragraph[edit]

There is an unsourced paragraph:

It is not possible for a Monte Carlo algorithm to be converted into a Las Vegas algorithm even if there exists a procedure to verify that the output produced by the algorithm is indeed correct. Even if a resulting Las Vegas algorithm were to repeatedly run the Monte Carlo algorithm there is still no guarantee that any of the runs produces an output that can be verified to be correct.

First, I doubt whether "not possible" can be rigorously proved. Second, the paragraph hides the question of how to consider algorithms which halt with probability one. It is a studied class of algorithms, though some would exclude them from the definition of "algorithm". I'll try a replacement; feel free to complain. McKay (talk) 03:28, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Las Vegas subset of Monte Carlo[edit]

The introduction states

"Las Vegas algorithms are the subset of Monte Carlo algorithms that always produce the correct answer."

But I don't think this is correct. Monte Carlo algorithms have the restriction that they run in polynomial time in the worst case, which is not true for Las Vegas algorithms. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.97.124.98 (talk) 14:22, 15 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]