Finding lower bounds for the competitive ratio of the cow path problem with a non-optimal seeker.

A tight lower bound for the competitive ratio of deterministic algorithms for the cow path is well-known. In this thesis, we generalize the cow path problem by assuming that the seeker finds the hider after some known number of visits. We seek to find lower bounds for the competitive ratio of deterministic algorithms for this problem. The thesis describes the general form of optimal algorithms and succeeds in finding a tight lower bound for the competitive ratio when the required number of visits is odd.