Irreducibility of enumerable betting strategies

Abstract

We study the problem of whether a betting-strategy can be decomposed into an equivalent set of simpler betting-strategies, such as betting-strategies that bet on a restricted set of stages or bet on a restricted of favorable outcomes. We show that the class of effectively enumerable betting-strategies has irreducible members which cannot be decomposed into an equivalent set of simpler bettingstrategies. We answer questions of Kastermans and Hitchcock by constructing a real on which no kastergale (which is a left-c.e. supermartingale whose favorable outcomes are effectively determined) succeeds, but some unrestricted left-c.e. supermartingale succeeds on it. We generalize a result of Muchnick by showing that there is a non-1-random real such that no muchgale (which is a left-c.e. supermartingale who does not bet on certain stages) succeeds on it. Our methodology is then used to obtain further irreducibility results, strongly supporting a conjecture that if a natural class of left-c.e. supermartingales defines 1-randomness, then a single member of that class can do so. In another word, the class of left-c.e. supermartingales cannot be reduced to a simpler, natural subclass of it. For example, we show that there is a non-1-random real such that no kastergale or muchgale succeeds on it.