English

Linear Discrepancy is $\Pi_2$-Hard to Approximate

Computational Complexity 2021-07-06 v1

Abstract

In this note, we prove that the problem of computing the linear discrepancy of a given matrix is Π2\Pi_2-hard, even to approximate within 9/8ϵ9/8 - \epsilon factor for any ϵ>0\epsilon > 0. This strengthens the NP-hardness result of Li and Nikolov [ESA 2020] for the exact version of the problem, and answers a question posed by them. Furthermore, since Li and Nikolov showed that the problem is contained in Π2\Pi_2, our result makes linear discrepancy another natural problem that is Π2\Pi_2-complete (to approximate).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2107.01235,
  title  = {Linear Discrepancy is $\Pi_2$-Hard to Approximate},
  author = {Pasin Manurangsi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.01235},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

9 pages; to appear in Information Processing Letters

R2 v1 2026-06-24T03:51:16.075Z