Testing frequency distributions in a stream
Data Structures and Algorithms
2025-08-26 v2
Abstract
We study how to verify specific frequency distributions when we observe a stream of data items taken from a universe of distinct items. We introduce the \emph{relative Fr\'echet distance} to compare two frequency functions in a homogeneous manner. We consider two streaming models: insertions only and sliding windows. We present a Tester for a certain class of functions, which decides if is close to or if is far from with high probability, when is given and is defined by a stream. If is uniform we show a space lower bound. If decreases fast enough, we then only use space . The analysis relies on the Spacesaving algorithm \cite{MAE2005,Z22} and on sampling the stream.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2309.11175,
title = {Testing frequency distributions in a stream},
author = {Claire Mathieu and Michel de Rougemont},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.11175},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
28 pages, 4 figures