Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2510.21589

Relative-error unateness testing

Xi Chen·Diptaksho Palit·Kabir Peshawaria·William Pires·Rocco A. Servedio·Yiding Zhang
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The model of relative-error property testing of Boolean functions has been the subject of significant recent research effort [CDH+24][CPPS25a][CPPS25b] In this paper we consider the problem of relative-error testing an unknown and arbitrary $f: \{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$ for the property of being a unate function, i.e. a function that is either monotone non-increasing or monotone non-decreasing in each of the $n$ input variables. Our first result is a one-sided non-adaptive algorithm for this problem that makes $\tilde{O}(\log(N)/ε)$ samples and queries, where $N=|f^{-1}(1)|$ is the number of satisfying assignments of the function that is being tested and the value of $N$ is given as an input parameter to the algorithm. Building on this algorithm, we next give a one-sided adaptive algorithm for this problem that does not need to be given the value of $N$ and with high probability makes $\tilde{O}(\log(N)/ε)$ samples and queries. We also give lower bounds for both adaptive and non-adaptive two-sided algorithms that are given the value of $N$ up to a constant multiplicative factor. In the non-adaptive case, our lower bounds essentially match the complexity of the algorithm that we provide.

Explore related subjects

cs.CCcs.DMcs.DS

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Xi Chen, Diptaksho Palit, Kabir Peshawaria, William Pires, Rocco A. Servedio, Yiding Zhang. 2025-10-24. Relative-error unateness testing. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.21589

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Counting Small Induced Subgraphs: Hardness of Symmetry-Based Properties

Jerrum and Meeks (TOCT, JCSS 2015) introduced the counting problems $\text{IndSub}(Φ)$ for fixed graph properties $Φ$: Given an input graph $G$ and $k\in\mathbb N$, count the $k$-vertex subsets $S \subseteq V(G)$ such that the induced subgraph $G[S]$ satisfies $Φ$. For recursively enumerable $Φ$, it is known that $\text{IndSub}(Φ)$ is either #W[1]-hard or fixed-parameter tractable. A direct classification depending on $Φ$ however still remains open. In particular, the status was open for the property of graphs without nontrivial automorphisms, also mentioned in a very recent survey on parameterized counting by Roth (Comput.~Sci.~Rev.~2026). This is a natural property that evades all currently known techniques for proving #W[1]-hardness, including a general toolkit based on Fourier analysis that was very recently introduced by Curticapean and Neuen (SODA~2025). In this paper, we show that counting induced $k$-vertex graphs without nontrivial automorphisms is #W[1]-hard by constructing ``clique scaffolds'', i.e., problem-specific restrictions of the property that enable a reduction from the $k$-clique problem. More generally, we show that for every finite group $Q$, counting $k$-vertex induced subgraphs with automorphism group $Q$ is #W[1]-hard.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2026

Improved Algorithms for the Remote Point Problem

The Remote Point Problem (RPP) is an algorithmic problem that asks, given a linear subspace $L \subseteq \mathbb{F}^n$ of dimension $k$, to deterministically find a vector $v \in \mathbb{F}^n$ far in Hamming distance from $L$. This problem was introduced by Alon, Panigrahy and Yekhanin [APY09], motivated in part by the matrix rigidity approach for proving circuit lower bounds. An algorithm is said to achieve remoteness $d$ if it finds a vector $v$ whose Hamming distance from $L$ is at least $d$. We observe that over the rational numbers, the problem admits a deterministic polynomial-time algorithm that achieves optimal remoteness $n-k$. Over finite fields, we obtain a (modest) improvement of a result of Alon, Panigrahy and Yekhanin [APY09], and give an algorithm that achieves remoteness $Ω\left(\frac{n}{\max\{k, \log n\}} \log n\right)$.

cs.CC↗
arXiv2026

Strong Selective and List-Decoding Direct Product Theorems for Quantum Query Complexity

Quantum strong direct-product theorems for specific functions have been known for nearly two decades. These have been extended to general results for function computation and state generation. The proofs of these results use a version of the multiplicative adversary method that does not naturally extend to relations. Standard strong direct-product theorems apply when algorithms must correctly answer every given question. Prior work extended them to equivalent threshold direct-product theorems, which require answers to all questions but only require that most answers are correct. We focus on two further generalizations. Strong selective direct-products apply to algorithms that adaptively choose, based on what they learn from queries, which questions from a large list to answer. This generalization is relational and useful for proving time-space tradeoffs. We prove a quantum strong selective direct-product theorem for all functions using a new multiplicative adversary formulation for relations that satisfies a strong selective direct product property while being strong enough to capture any query lower bound for functions proven by negative-weights adversaries. This was not previously known even without selectivity. The second generalization is list-decoding direct product problems introduced by Ben-David and Blais for classical randomized query complexity. These allow an algorithm to produce a large list of possible output vectors such that one of them is fully correct. They proved that such theorems hold for classical randomized complexity of all Boolean functions. We prove a quantum analogue of this theorem for all partial Boolean functions. We show that strong list-decoding direct-product theorems are implied by a special case of multiplicative adversaries which we show, via a new reduction, can be obtained from negative-weights adversaries for any Boolean-valued function.

cs.CC↗