Related papers: On extracting common random bits from correlated s…

We resolve a long-standing open question, about the existence of a constant-factor approximation algorithm for the average-case \textsc{Decision Tree} problem with uniform probability distribution over the hypotheses. We answer the question…

We consider bottom-k sampling for a set X, picking a sample S_k(X) consisting of the k elements that are smallest according to a given hash function h. With this sample we can estimate the relative size f=|Y|/|X| of any subset Y as |S_k(X)…

This paper presents lossless prefix codes optimized with respect to a pay-off criterion consisting of a convex combination of maximum codeword length and average codeword length. The optimal codeword lengths obtained are based on a new…

We study the problem of estimating a distribution over a finite alphabet from an i.i.d. sample, with accuracy measured in relative entropy (Kullback-Leibler divergence). While optimal bounds on the expected risk are known, high-probability…

Starting with a set of weighted items, we want to create a generic sample of a certain size that we can later use to estimate the total weight of arbitrary subsets. For this purpose, we propose priority sampling which tested on Internet…

There are several public key establishment protocols as well as complete public key cryptosystems based on allegedly hard problems from combinatorial (semi)group theory known by now. Most of these problems are search problems, i.e., they…

Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) is a powerful method for carrying out Bayesian inference when the likelihood is computationally intractable. However, a drawback of ABC is that it is an approximate method that induces a systematic…

We study the setting in which the bits of an unknown infinite binary sequence x are revealed sequentially to an observer. We show that very limited assumptions about x allow one to make successful predictions about unseen bits of x. First,…

We prove a lower estimate on the increase in entropy when two copies of a conditional random variable $X | Y$, with $X$ supported on $\mathbb{Z}_q=\{0,1,\dots,q-1\}$ for prime $q$, are summed modulo $q$. Specifically, given two i.i.d copies…

In ongoing work to define a principled method for syntenic block discovery and structuring, work based on homology-derived constraints and a generalization of common intervals, we faced a fundamental computational problem: how to determine…

There has been a great deal of work establishing that random linear codes are as list-decodable as uniformly random codes, in the sense that a random linear binary code of rate $1 - H(p) - \epsilon$ is $(p,O(1/\epsilon))$-list-decodable…

We study an extension of the standard two-party communication model in which Alice and Bob hold probability distributions $p$ and $q$ over domains $X$ and $Y$, respectively. Their goal is to estimate \[ \mathbb{E}_{x \sim p,\, y \sim…

The following learning problem arises naturally in various applications: Given a finite sample from a categorical or count time series, can we learn a function of the sample that (nearly) maximizes the probability of correctly guessing the…

Unconditionally secure non-relativistic bit commitment is known to be impossible in both the classical and the quantum worlds. But when committing to a string of n bits at once, how far can we stretch the quantum limits? In this paper, we…

In "Recognizing the Maximum of a Sequence", Gilbert and Mosteller analyze a full information game where n measurements from an uniform distribution are drawn and a player (knowing n) must decide at each draw whether or not to choose that…

In [1], we introduced a family of combinatorial designs, which we call "alphabet reduction pairs of arrays", ARPAs for short. These designs depend on three integer parameters $q, p \leq q, k\leq p$: $q$ is the size of the symbol set $\{0, 1…

Consider a game where a refereed a referee chooses (x,y) according to a publicly known distribution P_XY, sends x to Alice, and y to Bob. Without communicating with each other, Alice responds with a value "a" and Bob responds with a value…

Approximate Bayesian computation performs approximate inference for models where likelihood computations are expensive or impossible. Instead simulations from the model are performed for various parameter values and accepted if they are…

We prove a stability result for general $3$-wise correlations over distributions satisfying mild connectivity properties. More concretely, we show that if $\Sigma,\Gamma$ and $\Phi$ are alphabets of constant size, and $\mu$ is a pairwise…

The idea that many important classes of signals can be well-represented by linear combinations of a small set of atoms selected from a given dictionary has had dramatic impact on the theory and practice of signal processing. For practical…