Guessing Revisited: A Large Deviations Approach
Abstract
The problem of guessing a random string is revisited. A close relation between guessing and compression is first established. Then it is shown that if the sequence of distributions of the information spectrum satisfies the large deviation property with a certain rate function, then the limiting guessing exponent exists and is a scalar multiple of the Legendre-Fenchel dual of the rate function. Other sufficient conditions related to certain continuity properties of the information spectrum are briefly discussed. This approach highlights the importance of the information spectrum in determining the limiting guessing exponent. All known prior results are then re-derived as example applications of our unifying approach.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1008.1977,
title = {Guessing Revisited: A Large Deviations Approach},
author = {Manjesh Kumar Hanawal and Rajesh Sundaresan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.1977},
year = {2010}
}
Comments
16 pages, to appear in IEEE Transaction on Information Theory