Definition Divisible Envy-Free, Proportional, Equitable Predicates
definition formalized

Divisible Envy-Free, Proportional, Equitable Predicates

Three fairness predicates specialised to divisible allocations ([[social_choice.fair_division.divisible.allocation]]) under a cake valuation $\mathrm{cv}$ ([[social_choice.fair_division.divisible.cake_valuation]]).

Envy-Free (EF)

$$ \forall i, j \in N,\ \mathrm{cv}(i, A(j)) \le \mathrm{cv}(i, A(i)). $$

In Lean: Divisible.IsEnvyFree. Requires only [Preorder V] on the value type.

For divisible goods with non-atomic measures, EF allocations always exist (Stromquist; [[social_choice.fair_division.divisible.ef_exists]]). This is the central difference from the indivisible setting ([[social_choice.fair_division.indivisible.envy_free]]), where EF may fail to exist.

Proportional (PROP)

For a population size parameter $n$, $$ \forall i \in N,\ \mathrm{cv}(i, \Omega) \le n \cdot \mathrm{cv}(i, A(i)). $$

Stated without division so it makes sense over any [Semiring V]. In Lean: Divisible.IsProportional.

Equitable

Every agent assigns the same value to their own piece: $$ \forall i, j \in N,\ \mathrm{cv}(i, A(i)) = \mathrm{cv}(j, A(j)). $$

In Lean: Divisible.IsEquitable. Comparable across agents only with normalized cake valuations ([[social_choice.fair_division.divisible.normalized_iff_probability]]).

These three are exactly the generic ([[social_choice.fair_division.envy_free]], [[social_choice.fair_division.proportional]], [[social_choice.fair_division.equitable]]) predicates re-stated with $\mathrm{cv}.val$ in place of an opaque utility function, so the shape matches downstream measure-theoretic proofs.

References

  • [AGT Chapter 13] Nisan, Roughgarden, Tardos, and Vazirani, Algorithmic Game Theory. Fairness for cake cutting.
  • Procaccia, A. D. (2013). "Cake Cutting: Not Just Child's Play".
  • Robertson, J. M. and Webb, W. A. (1998). Cake-Cutting Algorithms.

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