English

Average-case deterministic query complexity of boolean functions with fixed weight

Computational Complexity 2025-06-12 v3

Abstract

We study the average-case deterministic query complexity\textit{average-case deterministic query complexity} of boolean functions under a uniform input distribution\textit{uniform input distribution}, denoted by Dave(f)\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{ave}(f), the minimum average depth of zero-error decision trees that compute a boolean function ff. This measure has found several applications across diverse fields, yet its understanding is limited. We study boolean functions with fixed weight, where weight is defined as the number of inputs on which the output is 11. We prove Dave(f)max{logwt(f)logn+O(loglogwt(f)logn),O(1)}\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{ave}(f) \le \max \left\{ \log \frac{\mathrm{wt}(f)}{\log n} + O(\log \log \frac{\mathrm{wt}(f)}{\log n}), O(1) \right\} for every nn-variable boolean function ff, where wt(f)\mathrm{wt}(f) denotes the weight. For any 4lognm(n)2n14\log n \le m(n) \le 2^{n-1}, we prove the upper bound is tight up to an additive logarithmic term for almost all nn-variable boolean functions with fixed weight wt(f)=m(n)\mathrm{wt}(f) = m(n). H\r{a}stad's switching lemma or Rossman's switching lemma [Comput. Complexity Conf. 137, 2019] implies Dave(f)n(11O(w))\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{ave}(f) \leq n\left(1 - \frac{1}{O(w)}\right) or Dave(f)n(11O(logs))\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{ave}(f) \le n\left(1 - \frac{1}{O(\log s)}\right) for CNF/DNF formulas of width ww or size ss, respectively. We show there exists a DNF formula of width ww and size 2w/w\lceil 2^w / w \rceil such that Dave(f)=n(1lognΘ(w))\mathrm{D}_\mathrm{ave}(f) = n \left(1 - \frac{\log n}{\Theta(w)}\right) for any w2lognw \ge 2\log n.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2403.03530,
  title  = {Average-case deterministic query complexity of boolean functions with fixed weight},
  author = {Yuan Li and Haowei Wu and Yi Yang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.03530},
  year   = {2025}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T15:10:42.390Z