English
Related papers

Related papers: Optimal Testing of Discrete Distributions with Hig…

200 papers

The $k$-of-$n$ testing problem involves performing $n$ independent tests sequentially, in order to determine whether/not at least $k$ tests pass. The objective is to minimize the expected cost of testing. This is a fundamental and…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-03-26 Rayen Tan , Viswanath Nagarajan

We investigate distribution testing with access to non-adaptive conditional samples. In the conditional sampling model, the algorithm is given the following access to a distribution: it submits a query set $S$ to an oracle, which returns a…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2018-11-06 Gautam Kamath , Christos Tzamos

In many fairness and distribution robustness problems, one has access to labeled data from multiple source distributions yet the test data may come from an arbitrary member or a mixture of them. We study the problem of constructing a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-07 Yuqi Yang , Ying Jin

We consider the closeness testing problem for discrete distributions. The goal is to distinguish whether two samples are drawn from the same unspecified distribution, or whether their respective distributions are separated in $L_1$-norm. In…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2021-01-20 Joseph Lam-Weil , Alexandra Carpentier , Bharath K. Sriperumbudur

Combining p-values from multiple independent tests is a fundamental task in statistical inference, but presents unique challenges when the p-values are discrete. We extend a recent optimal transport-based framework for combining discrete…

Methodology · Statistics 2025-08-05 Gonzalo Contador , Zheyang Wu

Estimating the density of a distribution from its samples is a fundamental problem in statistics. Hypothesis selection addresses the setting where, in addition to a sample set, we are given $n$ candidate distributions -- referred to as…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-10-23 Maryam Aliakbarpour , Zhan Shi , Ria Stevens , Vincent X. Wang

In this work, we consider the sample complexity required for testing the monotonicity of distributions over partial orders. A distribution $p$ over a poset is monotone if, for any pair of domain elements $x$ and $y$ such that $x \preceq y$,…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-07-09 Maryam Aliakbarpour , Themis Gouleakis , John Peebles , Ronitt Rubinfeld , Anak Yodpinyanee

We study a hypothesis testing problem in which data is compressed distributively and sent to a detector that seeks to decide between two possible distributions for the data. The aim is to characterize all achievable encoding rates and…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2011-02-01 Md. Saifur Rahman , Aaron B. Wagner

We generalize standard credal set models for imprecise probabilities to include higher order credal sets -- confidences about confidences. In doing so, we specify how an agent's higher order confidences (credal sets) update upon observing…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2021-07-20 Justus Hibshman , Tim Weninger

Distribution testing deals with what information can be deduced about an unknown distribution over $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, where the algorithm is only allowed to obtain a relatively small number of independent samples from the distribution. In…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2016-09-23 Eldar Fischer , Oded Lachish , Yadu Vasudev

Uniformity testing and the more general identity testing are well studied problems in distributional property testing. Most previous work focuses on testing under $L_1$-distance. However, when the support is very large or even continuous,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2017-10-31 Shichuan Deng , Wenzheng Li , Xuan Wu

Uniformity testing, or testing whether independent observations are uniformly distributed, is the prototypical question in distribution testing. Over the past years, a line of work has been focusing on uniformity testing under privacy…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-10-19 Clément L. Canonne , Hongyi Lyu

Equivalence testing, a fundamental problem in the field of distribution testing, seeks to infer if two unknown distributions on $[n]$ are the same or far apart in the total variation distance. Conditional sampling has emerged as a powerful…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-03-08 Diptarka Chakraborty , Sourav Chakraborty , Gunjan Kumar , Kuldeep S. Meel

In this paper we consider the uniformity testing problem for high-dimensional discrete distributions (multinomials) under sparse alternatives. More precisely, we derive sharp detection thresholds for testing, based on $n$ samples, whether a…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2022-02-17 Bhaswar B. Bhattacharya , Rajarshi Mukherjee

There has been considerable recent interest in distribution-tests whose run-time and sample requirements are sublinear in the domain-size $k$. We study two of the most important tests under the conditional-sampling model where each query…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2015-04-17 Moein Falahatgar , Ashkan Jafarpour , Alon Orlitsky , Venkatadheeraj Pichapathi , Ananda Theertha Suresh

As statistical analyses become more central to science, industry and society, there is a growing need to ensure correctness of their results. Approximate correctness can be verified by replicating the entire analysis, but can we verify…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2024-09-11 Tal Herman , Guy Rothblum

Given a finite set of unknown distributions or arms that can be sampled, we consider the problem of identifying the one with the maximum mean using a $\delta$-correct algorithm (an adaptive, sequential algorithm that restricts the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-11-27 Shubhada Agrawal , Sandeep Juneja , Peter Glynn

Determinantal point processes (DPPs) are popular probabilistic models of diversity. In this paper, we investigate DPPs from a new perspective: property testing of distributions. Given sample access to an unknown distribution $q$ over the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-08-11 Khashayar Gatmiry , Maryam Aliakbarpour , Stefanie Jegelka

We explore the problem of distributed Hypothesis Testing (DHT) against independence, focusing specifically on Binary Symmetric Sources (BSS). Our investigation aims to characterize the optimal quantizer among binary linear codes, with the…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-23 Fatemeh Khaledian , Reza Asvadi , Elsa Dupraz , Tad Matsumoto

The approximation of a discrete probability distribution $\mathbf{t}$ by an $M$-type distribution $\mathbf{p}$ is considered. The approximation error is measured by the informational divergence $\mathbb{D}(\mathbf{t}\Vert\mathbf{p})$, which…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2016-07-28 Bernhard C. Geiger , Georg Böcherer