Related papers: Every decision tree has an influential variable

In an attempt to show that the acceptance probability of a quantum query algorithm making $q$ queries can be well-approximated almost everywhere by a classical decision tree of depth $\leq \text{poly}(q)$, Aaronson and Ambainis proposed the…

We present a regularity lemma for Boolean functions $f:\{-1,1\}^n \to \{-1,1\}$ based on noisy influence, a measure of how locally correlated $f$ is with each input bit. We provide an application of the regularity lemma to weaken the…

Let $\mathsf{TH}_k$ denote the $k$-out-of-$n$ threshold function: given $n$ input Boolean variables, the output is $1$ if and only if at least $k$ of the inputs are $1$. We consider the problem of computing the $\mathsf{TH}_k$ function…

We consider the randomized decision tree complexity of the recursive 3-majority function. We prove a lower bound of $(1/2-\delta) \cdot 2.57143^h$ for the two-sided-error randomized decision tree complexity of evaluating height $h$ formulae…

In this paper, we study learning and testing decision tree of size and depth that are significantly smaller than the number of attributes $n$. Our main result addresses the problem of poly$(n,1/\epsilon)$ time algorithms with…

We investigate the influences of variables on a Boolean function $f$ based on the quantum Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm. A previous paper (Floess et al. in Math. Struct. in Comp. Science 23: 386, 2013) has proved that if a $n$-variable…

The Fourier Entropy-Influence (FEI) conjecture of Friedgut and Kalai [FK96] seeks to relate two fundamental measures of Boolean function complexity: it states that $H[f] \leq C Inf[f]$ holds for every Boolean function $f$, where $H[f]$…

We give strengthened provable guarantees on the performance of widely employed and empirically successful {\sl top-down decision tree learning heuristics}. While prior works have focused on the realizable setting, we consider the more…

Consider a Boolean function f on the n-dimensional hypercube, and a set of variables (indexed by) $S \subset \{1,2,\ldots,n\}.$ The coalition influence of the variables S on a function f is the probability that after a random assignment of…

We prove a lower bound of $\Omega(n^{1/2 - c})$, for all $c>0$, on the query complexity of (two-sided error) non-adaptive algorithms for testing whether an $n$-variable Boolean function is monotone versus constant-far from monotone. This…

Broadcasting on trees is a fundamental model from statistical physics that plays an important role in information theory, noisy computation and phylogenetic reconstruction within computational biology and linguistics. While this model…

The tree-depth of $G$ is the smallest value of $k$ for which a labeling of the vertices of $G$ with elements from $\{1,\dots,k\}$ exists such that any path joining two vertices with the same label contains a vertex having a higher label.…

The analysis of practical probabilistic models on the computer demands a convenient representation for the available knowledge and an efficient algorithm to perform inference. An appealing representation is the influence diagram, a network…

Given a function f: [a,b] -> R, if f(a) < 0 and f(b)> 0 and f is continuous, the Intermediate Value Theorem implies that f has a root in [a,b]. Moreover, given a value-oracle for f, an approximate root of f can be computed using the…

The consultative papers for the Basel II Accord require rating systems to provide a ranking of obligors in the sense that the rating categories indicate the creditworthiness in terms of default probabilities. As a consequence, the default…

Weighted Poincar\'e-type and related inequalities provide upper bounds of the variance of functions. Their application in sensitivity analysis allows for quickly identifying the active inputs. Although the efficiency in prioritizing inputs…

We introduce a new structural graph parameter called \emph{partial matching width}. For each (sufficiently large) integer $k \geq 1$, we introduce a class $\mathcal{G}_k$ of graphs of treewidth at most $k$ and max-degree $7$ such that for…

We study a new type of random minimum spanning trees. It is built on the complete graph where each vertex is given a weight, which is a positive real number. Then, each edge is given a capacity which is a random variable that only depends…

A well-known result due to Caro (1979) and Wei (1981) states that every graph $G$ has an independent set of size at least $\sum_{v\in V(G)} \frac{1}{d(v) + 1}$, where $d(v)$ denotes the degree of vertex $v$. Alon, Kahn, and Seymour (1987)…

We develop a simple and unified framework for nonlinear variable selection that incorporates uncertainty in the prediction function and is compatible with a wide range of machine learning models (e.g., tree ensembles, kernel methods, neural…