Quantiles, such as the median or percentiles, provide concise and useful information about the distribution of a collection of items, drawn from a linearly ordered universe. We study data structures, called quantile summaries, which keep track of all quantiles, up to an error of at most @math . That is, an @math -approximate quantile summary first processes a stream of items and then, given any quantile query @math , returns an item from the stream, which is a @math -quantile for some @math . We focus on comparison-based quantile summaries that can only compare two items and are otherwise completely oblivious of the universe. The best such deterministic quantile summary to date, by Greenwald and Khanna (ACM SIGMOD '01), stores at most @math items, where @math is the number of items in the stream. We prove that this space bound is optimal by providing a matching lower bound. Our result thus rules out the possibility of constructing a deterministic comparison-based quantile summary in space @math , for any function @math that does not depend on @math . A consequence of our results is also to show a lower bound for randomized algorithms.
If we tolerate randomization and relax the requirement for worst-case error guarantees, it is possible to design quantile summaries with space close to @math . After a sequence of improvements @cite_0 @cite_3 @cite_4 @cite_10 , Karnin, Lang, and Liberty @cite_14 designed a randomized comparison-based quantile summary with space bounded by @math , where @math is the probability of not returning an @math -approximate @math -quantile for some @math . The algorithm combines careful sampling, and uses the Greenwald-Khanna summary as a subroutine. They also provide a reduction to transform the deterministic @math lower bound into a randomized lower bound of @math , implying optimality of their approach in its model. We discuss further how the deterministic and randomized lower bounds relate in .
@cite_14 @cite_4 @cite_3 @cite_0 @cite_10
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Over the past 30 years numerous algorithms have been designed for symmetry breaking problems in the LOCAL model, such as maximal matching, MIS, vertex coloring, and edge-coloring. For most problems the best randomized algorithm is at least exponentially faster than the best deterministic algorithm. In this paper we prove that these exponential gaps are necessary and establish connections between the deterministic and randomized complexities in the LOCAL model. Each result has a very compelling take-away message: 1. Fast @math -coloring of trees requires random bits: Building on the recent lower bounds of , we prove that the randomized complexity of @math -coloring a tree with maximum degree @math is @math , whereas its deterministic complexity is @math for any @math . This also establishes a large separation between the deterministic complexity of @math -coloring and @math -coloring trees. 2. Randomized lower bounds imply deterministic lower bounds: We prove that any deterministic algorithm for a natural class of problems that runs in @math rounds can be transformed to run in @math rounds. If the transformed algorithm violates a lower bound (even allowing randomization), then one can conclude that the problem requires @math time deterministically. 3. Deterministic lower bounds imply randomized lower bounds: We prove that the randomized complexity of any natural problem on instances of size @math is at least its deterministic complexity on instances of size @math . This shows that a deterministic @math lower bound for any problem implies a randomized @math lower bound. It also illustrates that the graph shattering technique is absolutely essential to the LOCAL model. A quantile summary is a data structure that approximates to "-relative error the order statistics of a much larger underlying dataset. In this paper we develop a randomized online quantile summary for the cash register data input model and comparison data domain model that uses O( 1 " log 1 " ) words of memory. This improves upon the previous best upper bound of O( 1 log 3=2 1 ) by Agarwal et. al. (PODS 2012). Further, by a lower bound of Hung and Ting (FAW 2010) no deterministic summary for the comparison model can outperform our randomized summary in terms of space complexity. Lastly, our summary has the nice property that O( 1 log 1 ) words suce The Gap-Hamming-Distance problem arose in the context of proving space lower bounds for a number of key problems in the data stream model. In this problem, Alice and Bob have to decide whether the Hamming distance between their @math -bit input strings is large (i.e., at least @math ) or small (i.e., at most @math ); they do not care if it is neither large nor small. This @math gap in the problem specification is crucial for capturing the approximation allowed to a data stream algorithm. Thus far, for randomized communication, an @math lower bound on this problem was known only in the one-way setting. We prove an @math lower bound for randomized protocols that use any constant number of rounds. As a consequence we conclude, for instance, that @math -approximately counting the number of distinct elements in a data stream requires @math space, even with multiple (a constant number of) passes over the input stream. This extends earlier one-pass lower bounds, answering a long-standing open question. We obtain similar results for approximating the frequency moments and for approximating the empirical entropy of a data stream. In the process, we also obtain tight @math lower and upper bounds on the one-way deterministic communication complexity of the problem. Finally, we give a simple combinatorial proof of an @math lower bound on the one-way randomized communication complexity. We design new polynomials for representing threshold functions in three different regimes: probabilistic polynomials of low degree, which need far less randomness than previous constructions, polynomial threshold functions (PTFs) with "nice" threshold behavior and degree almost as low as the probabilistic polynomials, and a new notion of probabilistic PTFs where we combine the above techniques to achieve even lower degree with similar "nice" threshold behavior. Utilizing these polynomial constructions, we design faster algorithms for a variety of problems: @math Offline Hamming Nearest (and Furthest) Neighbors: Given @math red and @math blue points in @math -dimensional Hamming space for @math , we can find an (exact) nearest (or furthest) blue neighbor for every red point in randomized time @math or deterministic time @math . These also lead to faster MAX-SAT algorithms for sparse CNFs. @math Offline Approximate Nearest (and Furthest) Neighbors: Given @math red and @math blue points in @math -dimensional @math or Euclidean space, we can find a @math -approximate nearest (or furthest) blue neighbor for each red point in randomized time near @math . @math SAT Algorithms and Lower Bounds for Circuits With Linear Threshold Functions: We give a satisfiability algorithm for @math circuits with a subquadratic number of linear threshold gates on the bottom layer, and a subexponential number of gates on the other layers, that runs in deterministic @math time. This also implies new circuit lower bounds for threshold circuits. We also give a randomized @math -time SAT algorithm for subexponential-size @math circuits, where the top @math gate and middle @math gates have @math fan-in. We consider the following scheduling problem. The input is a set of jobs with equal processing times, where each job is specified by its release time and deadline. The goal is to determine a single-processor nonpreemptive schedule that maximizes the number of completed jobs. In the online version, each job arrives at its release time. We give two online algorithms with competitive ratios below @math and show several lower bounds on the competitive ratios. First, we give a barely random @math -competitive algorithm that uses only one random bit. We also show a lower bound of @math on the competitive ratio of barely random algorithms that randomly choose one of two deterministic algorithms. If the two algorithms are selected with equal probability, we can further improve the bound to @math . Second, we give a deterministic @math -competitive algorithm in the model that allows restarts, and we show that in this model the ratio @math is optimal. For randomized algorithms with restarts we show a lower bound of @math . An ∈-approximate quantile summary of a sequence of N elements is a data structure that can answer quantile queries about the sequence to within a precision of ∈N. We present a new online algorithm for computing∈-approximate quantile summaries of very large data sequences. The algorithm has a worst-case space requirement of O(1÷∈ log(∈N)). This improves upon the previous best result of O(1÷∈ log2(∈N)). Moreover, in contrast to earlier deterministic algorithms, our algorithm does not require a priori knowledge of the length of the input sequence. Finally, the actual space bounds obtained on experimental data are significantly better than the worst case guarantees of our algorithm as well as the observed space requirements of earlier algorithms. This work provides tight upper- and lower-bounds for the problem of mean estimation under @math -differential privacy in the local model, when the input is composed of @math i.i.d. drawn samples from a normal distribution with variance @math . Our algorithms result in a @math -confidence interval for the underlying distribution's mean @math of length @math . In addition, our algorithms leverage binary search using local differential privacy for quantile estimation, a result which may be of separate interest. Moreover, we prove a matching lower-bound (up to poly-log factors), showing that any one-shot (each individual is presented with a single query) local differentially private algorithm must return an interval of length @math . We present an information-theoretic approach to lower bound the oracle complexity of nonsmooth black box convex optimization, unifying previous lower bounding techniques by identifying a combinatorial problem, namely string guessing, as a single source of hardness. As a measure of complexity, we use distributional oracle complexity, which subsumes randomized oracle complexity as well as worst case oracle complexity. We obtain strong lower bounds on distributional oracle complexity for the box @math , as well as for the @math -ball for @math (for both low-scale and large-scale regimes), matching worst case upper bounds, and hence we close the gap between distributional complexity, and in particular, randomized complexity and worst case complexity. Furthermore, the bounds remain essentially the same for high-probability and bounded-error oracle complexity, and even for combination of the two, i.e., bounded-error high-probability oracle complexity. This considerably extends the applicability of known bounds. We give a lower bound of @math for the degree-4 Sum-of-Squares SDP relaxation for the planted clique problem. Specifically, we show that on an Erd "os-R 'enyi graph @math , with high probability there is a feasible point for the degree-4 SOS relaxation of the clique problem with an objective value of @math , so that the program cannot distinguish between a random graph and a random graph with a planted clique of size @math . This bound is tight. We build on the works of Deshpande and Montanari and , who give lower bounds of @math and @math respectively. We improve on their results by making a perturbation to the SDP solution proposed in their work, then showing that this perturbation remains PSD as the objective value approaches @math . In an independent work, Hopkins, Kothari and Potechin [HKP15] have obtained a similar lower bound for the degree- @math SOS relaxation. We study the broadcast version of the CONGEST CLIQUE model of distributed computing. In this model, in each round, any node in a network of size @math can send the same message (i.e. broadcast a message) of limited size to every other node in the network. Nanongkai presented in [STOC'14] a randomized @math -approximation algorithm to compute all pairs shortest paths (APSP) in time @math on weighted graphs, where we use the convention that @math is essentially @math polylog @math and @math is essentially @math polylog @math . We complement this result by proving that any randomized @math -approximation of APSP and @math -approximation of the diameter of a graph takes @math time in the worst case. This demonstrates that getting a negligible improvement in the approximation factor requires significantly more time. Furthermore this bound implies that already computing a @math -approximation of all pairs shortest paths is among the hardest graph-problems in the broadcast-version of the CONGEST CLIQUE model and contrasts a recent @math -approximation for APSP that runs in time @math in the unicast version of the CONGEST CLIQUE model. On the positive side we provide a deterministic version of Nanongkai's @math -approximation algorithm for APSP. To do so we present a fast deterministic construction of small hitting sets. We also show how to replace another randomized part within Nanongkai's algorithm with a deterministic source-detection algorithm designed for the CONGEST model presented by Lenzen and Peleg at PODC'13. We investigate the minimization of Newton's functional for the problem of the body of minimal resistance with maximal height @math cite butt in the class of convex developable functions defined in a disc. This class is a natural candidate to find a (non-radial) minimizer in accordance with the results of cite lrp2. We prove that the minimizer in this class has a minimal set in the form of a regular polygon with @math sides centered in the disc, and numerical experiments indicate that the natural number @math is a non-decreasing function of @math . The corresponding functions all achieve a lower value of the functional than the optimal radially symmetric function with the same height @math . The Maximal Independent Set (MIS) problem is one of the basics in the study of locality in distributed graph algorithms. This paper presents an extremely simple randomized algorithm providing a near-optimal local complexity for this problem, which incidentally, when combined with some recent techniques, also leads to a near-optimal global complexity. Classical algorithms of Luby [STOC'85] and Alon, Babai and Itai [JALG'86] provide the global complexity guarantee that, with high probability, all nodes terminate after @math rounds. In contrast, our initial focus is on the local complexity, and our main contribution is to provide a very simple algorithm guaranteeing that each particular node @math terminates after @math rounds, with probability at least @math . The guarantee holds even if the randomness outside @math -hops neighborhood of @math is determined adversarially. This degree-dependency is optimal, due to a lower bound of Kuhn, Moscibroda, and Wattenhofer [PODC'04]. Interestingly, this local complexity smoothly transitions to a global complexity: by adding techniques of Barenboim, Elkin, Pettie, and Schneider [FOCS'12, arXiv: 1202.1983v3], we get a randomized MIS algorithm with a high probability global complexity of @math , where @math denotes the maximum degree. This improves over the @math result of , and gets close to the @math lower bound of Corollaries include improved algorithms for MIS in graphs of upper-bounded arboricity, or lower-bounded girth, for Ruling Sets, for MIS in the Local Computation Algorithms (LCA) model, and a faster distributed algorithm for the Lov 'asz Local Lemma. Given a large data matrix @math , we consider the problem of determining whether its entries are i.i.d. with some known marginal distribution @math , or instead @math contains a principal submatrix @math whose entries have marginal distribution @math . As a special case, the hidden (or planted) clique problem requires to find a planted clique in an otherwise uniformly random graph. Assuming unbounded computational resources, this hypothesis testing problem is statistically solvable provided @math for a suitable constant @math . However, despite substantial effort, no polynomial time algorithm is known that succeeds with high probability when @math . Recently Meka and Wigderson meka2013association , proposed a method to establish lower bounds within the Sum of Squares (SOS) semidefinite hierarchy. Here we consider the degree- @math SOS relaxation, and study the construction of meka2013association to prove that SOS fails unless @math . An argument presented by Barak implies that this lower bound cannot be substantially improved unless the witness construction is changed in the proof. Our proof uses the moments method to bound the spectrum of a certain random association scheme, i.e. a symmetric random matrix whose rows and columns are indexed by the edges of an Erd "os-Renyi random graph. The 3SUM problem is to decide, given a set of @math real numbers, whether any three sum to zero. It is widely conjectured that a trivial @math -time algorithm is optimal and over the years the consequences of this conjecture have been revealed. This 3SUM conjecture implies @math lower bounds on numerous problems in computational geometry and a variant of the conjecture implies strong lower bounds on triangle enumeration, dynamic graph algorithms, and string matching data structures. In this paper we refute the 3SUM conjecture. We prove that the decision tree complexity of 3SUM is @math and give two subquadratic 3SUM algorithms, a deterministic one running in @math time and a randomized one running in @math time with high probability. Our results lead directly to improved bounds for @math -variate linear degeneracy testing for all odd @math . The problem is to decide, given a linear function @math and a set @math , whether @math . We show the decision tree complexity of this problem is @math . Finally, we give a subcubic algorithm for a generalization of the @math -product over real-valued matrices and apply it to the problem of finding zero-weight triangles in weighted graphs. We give a depth- @math decision tree for this problem, as well as an algorithm running in time @math . An approximate membership data structure is a randomized data structure for representing a set which supports membership queries. It allows for a small false positive error rate but has no false negative errors. Such data structures were first introduced by Bloom in the 1970's, and have since had numerous applications, mainly in distributed systems, database systems, and networks. The algorithm of Bloom is quite effective: it can store a set @math of size @math by using only @math bits while having false positive error @math . This is within a constant factor of the entropy lower bound of @math for storing such sets. Closing this gap is an important open problem, as Bloom filters are widely used is situations were storage is at a premium. Bloom filters have another property: they are dynamic. That is, they support the iterative insertions of up to @math elements. In fact, if one removes this requirement, there exist static data structures which receive the entire set at once and can almost achieve the entropy lower bound, they require only @math bits. Our main result is a new lower bound for the memory requirements of any dynamic approximate membership data structure. We show that for any constant @math , any such data structure which achieves false positive error rate of @math must use at least @math memory bits, where @math depends only on @math . This shows that the entropy lower bound cannot be achieved by dynamic data structures for any constant error rate. In fact, our lower bound holds even in the setting where the insertion and query algorithms may use shared randomness, and where they are only required to perform well on average. In the distributed all-pairs shortest paths problem (APSP), every node in the weighted undirected distributed network (the CONGEST model) needs to know the distance from every other node using least number of communication rounds (typically called time complexity ). The problem admits @math -approximation @math -time algorithm and a nearly-tight @math lower bound [Nanongkai, STOC'14; Lenzen and Patt-Shamir PODC'15] @math , @math and @math hide polylogarithmic factors. Note that the lower bounds also hold even in the unweighted case and in the weighted case with polynomial approximation ratios LenzenP_podc13,HolzerW12,PelegRT12,Nanongkai-STOC14 . . For the exact case, Elkin [STOC'17] presented an @math time bound, which was later improved to @math [Huang, Nanongkai, Saranurak FOCS'17]. It was shown that any super-linear lower bound (in @math ) requires a new technique [Censor-Hillel, Khoury, Paz, DISC'17], but otherwise it remained widely open whether there exists a @math -time algorithm for the exact case, which would match the best possible approximation algorithm. This paper resolves this question positively: we present a randomized (Las Vegas) @math -time algorithm, matching the lower bound up to polylogarithmic factors. Like the previous @math bound, our result works for directed graphs with zero (and even negative) edge weights. In addition to the improved running time, our algorithm works in a more general setting than that required by the previous @math bound; in our setting (i) the communication is only along edge directions (as opposed to bidirectional), and (ii) edge weights are arbitrary (as opposed to integers in 1, 2, ... poly(n) ). ... The stochastic block model (SBM) with two communities, or equivalently the planted bisection model, is a popular model of random graph exhibiting a cluster behaviour. In the symmetric case, the graph has two equally sized clusters and vertices connect with probability @math within clusters and @math across clusters. In the past two decades, a large body of literature in statistics and computer science has focused on providing lower-bounds on the scaling of @math to ensure exact recovery. In this paper, we identify a sharp threshold phenomenon for exact recovery: if @math and @math are constant (with @math ), recovering the communities with high probability is possible if @math and impossible if @math . In particular, this improves the existing bounds. This also sets a new line of sight for efficient clustering algorithms. While maximum likelihood (ML) achieves the optimal threshold (by definition), it is in the worst-case NP-hard. This paper proposes an efficient algorithm based on a semidefinite programming relaxation of ML, which is proved to succeed in recovering the communities close to the threshold, while numerical experiments suggest it may achieve the threshold. An efficient algorithm which succeeds all the way down to the threshold is also obtained using a partial recovery algorithm combined with a local improvement procedure. We show that randomization can lead to significant improvements for a few fundamental problems in distributed tracking. Our basis is the count-tracking problem, where there are @math players, each holding a counter @math that gets incremented over time, and the goal is to track an @math -approximation of their sum @math continuously at all times, using minimum communication. While the deterministic communication complexity of the problem is @math , where @math is the final value of @math when the tracking finishes, we show that with randomization, the communication cost can be reduced to @math . Our algorithm is simple and uses only O(1) space at each player, while the lower bound holds even assuming each player has infinite computing power. Then, we extend our techniques to two related distributed tracking problems: frequency-tracking and rank-tracking , and obtain similar improvements over previous deterministic algorithms. Both problems are of central importance in large data monitoring and analysis, and have been extensively studied in the literature. The stochastic block model with two communities, or equivalently the planted bisection model, is a popular model of random graph exhibiting a cluster behavior. In the symmetric case, the graph has two equally sized clusters and vertices connect with probability @math within clusters and @math across clusters. In the past two decades, a large body of literature in statistics and computer science has focused on providing lower bounds on the scaling of @math to ensure exact recovery. In this paper, we identify a sharp threshold phenomenon for exact recovery: if @math and @math are constant (with @math ), recovering the communities with high probability is possible if @math and is impossible if $( + 2 ) - . In particular, this improves the existing bounds. This also sets a new line of sight for efficient clustering algorithms. While maximum likelihood (ML) achieves the optimal threshold (by definition), it is in the worst case NP-hard. This paper proposes an efficient algorithm based on a semidefinite programming relaxation of ML, which is proved to succeed in recovering the communities close to the threshold, while numerical experiments suggest that it may achieve the threshold. An efficient algorithm that succeeds all the way down to the threshold is also obtained using a partial recovery algorithm combined with a local improvement procedure. We investigate a natural online version of the well-known Maximum Directed Cut problem on DAGs. We propose a deterministic algorithm and show that it achieves a competitive ratio of @math . We then give a lower bound argument to show that no deterministic algorithm can achieve a ratio of @math for any ?>0 thus showing that our algorithm is essentially optimal. Then, we extend our technique to improve upon the analysis of an old result: we show that greedily derandomizing the trivial randomized algorithm for MaxDiCut in general graphs improves the competitive ratio from 4 to 3, and also provide a tight example.