3,154 research outputs found
Rounding of continuous random variables and oscillatory asymptotics
We study the characteristic function and moments of the integer-valued random
variable , where is a continuous random variables.
The results can be regarded as exact versions of Sheppard's correction. Rounded
variables of this type often occur as subsequence limits of sequences of
integer-valued random variables. This leads to oscillatory terms in asymptotics
for these variables, something that has often been observed, for example in the
analysis of several algorithms. We give some examples, including applications
to tries, digital search trees and Patricia tries.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009117906000000232 in the
Annals of Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aop/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Efficient Construction of Probabilistic Tree Embeddings
In this paper we describe an algorithm that embeds a graph metric
on an undirected weighted graph into a distribution of tree metrics
such that for every pair , and
. Such embeddings have
proved highly useful in designing fast approximation algorithms, as many hard
problems on graphs are easy to solve on tree instances. For a graph with
vertices and edges, our algorithm runs in time with high
probability, which improves the previous upper bound of shown by
Mendel et al.\,in 2009.
The key component of our algorithm is a new approximate single-source
shortest-path algorithm, which implements the priority queue with a new data
structure, the "bucket-tree structure". The algorithm has three properties: it
only requires linear time in the number of edges in the input graph; the
computed distances have a distance preserving property; and when computing the
shortest-paths to the -nearest vertices from the source, it only requires to
visit these vertices and their edge lists. These properties are essential to
guarantee the correctness and the stated time bound.
Using this shortest-path algorithm, we show how to generate an intermediate
structure, the approximate dominance sequences of the input graph, in time, and further propose a simple yet efficient algorithm to converted
this sequence to a tree embedding in time, both with high
probability. Combining the three subroutines gives the stated time bound of the
algorithm.
Then we show that this efficient construction can facilitate some
applications. We proved that FRT trees (the generated tree embedding) are
Ramsey partitions with asymptotically tight bound, so the construction of a
series of distance oracles can be accelerated
Partial fillup and search time in LC tries
Andersson and Nilsson introduced in 1993 a level-compressed trie (in short:
LC trie) in which a full subtree of a node is compressed to a single node of
degree being the size of the subtree. Recent experimental results indicated a
'dramatic improvement' when full subtrees are replaced by partially filled
subtrees. In this paper, we provide a theoretical justification of these
experimental results showing, among others, a rather moderate improvement of
the search time over the original LC tries. For such an analysis, we assume
that n strings are generated independently by a binary memoryless source with p
denoting the probability of emitting a 1. We first prove that the so called
alpha-fillup level (i.e., the largest level in a trie with alpha fraction of
nodes present at this level) is concentrated on two values with high
probability. We give these values explicitly up to O(1), and observe that the
value of alpha (strictly between 0 and 1) does not affect the leading term.
This result directly yields the typical depth (search time) in the alpha-LC
tries with p not equal to 1/2, which turns out to be C loglog n for an
explicitly given constant C (depending on p but not on alpha). This should be
compared with recently found typical depth in the original LC tries which is C'
loglog n for a larger constant C'. The search time in alpha-LC tries is thus
smaller but of the same order as in the original LC tries.Comment: 13 page
Distances for Weighted Transition Systems: Games and Properties
We develop a general framework for reasoning about distances between
transition systems with quantitative information. Taking as starting point an
arbitrary distance on system traces, we show how this leads to natural
definitions of a linear and a branching distance on states of such a transition
system. We show that our framework generalizes and unifies a large variety of
previously considered system distances, and we develop some general properties
of our distances. We also show that if the trace distance admits a recursive
characterization, then the corresponding branching distance can be obtained as
a least fixed point to a similar recursive characterization. The central tool
in our work is a theory of infinite path-building games with quantitative
objectives.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2011, arXiv:1107.074
A generic operational metatheory for algebraic effects
We provide a syntactic analysis of contextual preorder and equivalence for a polymorphic programming language with effects. Our approach applies uniformly across a range of algebraic effects, and incorporates, as instances: errors, input/output, global state, nondeterminism, probabilistic choice, and combinations thereof. Our approach is to extend Plotkin and Powerâs structural operational semantics for algebraic effects (FoSSaCS 2001) with a primitive âbasic preorderâ on ground type computation trees. The basic preorder is used to derive notions of contextual preorder and equivalence on program terms. Under mild assumptions on this relation, we prove fundamental properties of contextual preorder (hence equivalence) including extensionality properties and a characterisation via applicative contexts, and we provide machinery for reasoning about polymorphism using relational parametricity
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