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We introduce a new model for testing graph properties which we call the \emph{rejection sampling model}. We show that testing bipartiteness of $n$-nodes graphs using rejection sampling queries requires complexity $\widetilde{\Omega}(n^2)$.…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2018-05-04 Amit Levi , Erik Waingarten

Agnostic learning of Boolean halfspaces is a fundamental problem in computational learning theory, but it is known to be computationally hard even for weak learning. Recent work [CKKMK24] proposed smoothed analysis as a way to bypass such…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-11-25 Yiwen Kou , Raghu Meka

We design a nonadaptive algorithm that, given oracle access to a function $f: \{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ which is $\alpha$-far from monotone, makes poly$(n, 1/\alpha)$ queries and returns an estimate that, with high probability, is an…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-02-26 Ramesh Krishnan S. Pallavoor , Sofya Raskhodnikova , Erik Waingarten

We prove a lower bound of $\tilde{\Omega}(n^{1/3})$ for the query complexity of any two-sided and adaptive algorithm that tests whether an unknown Boolean function $f:\{0,1\}^n\rightarrow \{0,1\}$ is monotone or far from monotone. This…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2017-08-22 Xi Chen , Erik Waingarten , Jinyu Xie

We show that every algorithm for testing $n$-variate Boolean functions for monotonicity must have query complexity $\tilde{\Omega}(n^{1/4})$. All previous lower bounds for this problem were designed for non-adaptive algorithms and, as a…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2015-11-17 Aleksandrs Belovs , Eric Blais

The noise sensitivity of a Boolean function $f: \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}$ is one of its fundamental properties. A function of a positive noise parameter $\delta$, it is denoted as $NS_{\delta}[f]$. Here we study the algorithmic problem…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-04-16 Ronitt Rubinfeld , Arsen Vasilyan

Given a property of Boolean functions, what is the minimum number of queries required to determine with high probability if an input function satisfies this property or is "far" from satisfying it? This is a fundamental question in Property…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2016-01-13 Noga Alon , Rani Hod , Amit Weinstein

We consider the problems of \emph{learning} and \emph{testing} real-valued convex functions over Gaussian space. Despite the extensive study of function convexity across mathematics, statistics, and computer science, its learnability and…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-11-17 Renato Ferreira Pinto , Cassandra Marcussen , Elchanan Mossel , Shivam Nadimpalli

The framework of distribution testing is currently ubiquitous in the field of property testing. In this model, the input is a probability distribution accessible via independently drawn samples from an oracle. The testing task is to…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2022-09-22 Sourav Chakraborty , Eldar Fischer , Arijit Ghosh , Gopinath Mishra , Sayantan Sen

This paper studies the \emph{$\varepsilon$-approximate range emptiness} problem, where the task is to represent a set $S$ of $n$ points from $\{0,\ldots,U-1\}$ and answer emptiness queries of the form "$[a ; b]\cap S \neq \emptyset$ ?" with…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2014-07-11 Mayank Goswami , Allan Grønlund , Kasper Green Larsen , Rasmus Pagh

We study the problem of testing whether a function $f: \mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ is a polynomial of degree at most $d$ in the \emph{distribution-free} testing model. Here, the distance between functions is measured with respect to an…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2022-04-19 Vipul Arora , Arnab Bhattacharyya , Noah Fleming , Esty Kelman , Yuichi Yoshida

A remarkable recent paper by Rubinfeld and Vasilyan (2022) initiated the study of \emph{testable learning}, where the goal is to replace hard-to-verify distributional assumptions (such as Gaussianity) with efficiently testable ones and to…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-28 Aravind Gollakota , Adam R. Klivans , Pravesh K. Kothari

We improve both upper and lower bounds for the distribution-free testing of monotone conjunctions. Given oracle access to an unknown Boolean function $f:\{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}$ and sampling oracle access to an unknown distribution…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2015-11-12 Xi Chen , Jinyu Xie

We revisit the fundamental problem of learning with distribution shift, in which a learner is given labeled samples from training distribution $D$, unlabeled samples from test distribution $D'$ and is asked to output a classifier with low…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2024-05-22 Adam R. Klivans , Konstantinos Stavropoulos , Arsen Vasilyan

We prove two main results on how arbitrary linear threshold functions $f(x) = \sign(w\cdot x - \theta)$ over the $n$-dimensional Boolean hypercube can be approximated by simple threshold functions. Our first result shows that every…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2009-10-21 Ilias Diakonikolas , Rocco A. Servedio

Let f:{-1,1}^n -> R be a real function on the hypercube, given by its discrete Fourier expansion, or, equivalently, represented as a multilinear polynomial. We say that it is Boolean if its image is in {-1,1}. We show that every function on…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2013-11-13 Tom Gur , Omer Tamuz

In this work, we develop new insights into the fundamental problem of convexity testing of real-valued functions over the domain $[n]$. Specifically, we present a nonadaptive algorithm that, given inputs $\eps \in (0,1), s \in \mathbb{N}$,…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2021-10-26 Abhiruk Lahiri , Ilan Newman , Nithin Varma

We give the first algorithm that is both query-efficient and time-efficient for testing whether an unknown function $f: \{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ is an $s$-sparse GF(2) polynomial versus $\eps$-far from every such polynomial. Our algorithm…

Computational Complexity · Computer Science 2008-05-14 Ilias Diakonikolas , Homin K. Lee , Kevin Matulef , Rocco A. Servedio , Andrew Wan

Property testers are fast, randomized "election polling"-type algorithms that determine if an input (e.g., graph or hypergraph) has a certain property or is $\varepsilon$-far from the property. In the dense graph model of property testing,…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-08-26 Lior Gishboliner , Asaf Shapira

We give an algorithm that learns arbitrary Boolean functions of $k$ arbitrary halfspaces over $\mathbb{R}^n$, in the challenging distribution-free Probably Approximately Correct (PAC) learning model, running in time $2^{\sqrt{n} \cdot (\log…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2026-03-10 Josh Alman , Shyamal Patel , Rocco A. Servedio