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    Approximation of biased Boolean functions of small total influence by DNF's

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    The influence of the kk'th coordinate on a Boolean function f:{0,1}n{0,1}f:\{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\} is the probability that flipping xkx_k changes the value f(x)f(x). The total influence I(f)I(f) is the sum of influences of the coordinates. The well-known `Junta Theorem' of Friedgut (1998) asserts that if I(f)MI(f) \leq M, then ff can be ϵ\epsilon-approximated by a function that depends on O(2M/ϵ)O(2^{M/\epsilon}) coordinates. Friedgut's theorem has a wide variety of applications in mathematics and theoretical computer science. For a biased function with E[f]=μE[f]=\mu, the edge isoperimetric inequality on the cube implies that I(f)2μlog(1/μ)I(f) \geq 2\mu \log(1/\mu). Kahn and Kalai (2006) asked, in the spirit of the Junta theorem, whether any ff such that I(f)I(f) is within a constant factor of the minimum, can be ϵμ\epsilon \mu-approximated by a DNF of a `small' size (i.e., a union of a small number of sub-cubes). We answer the question by proving the following structure theorem: If I(f)2μ(log(1/μ)+M)I(f) \leq 2\mu(\log(1/\mu)+M), then ff can be ϵμ\epsilon \mu-approximated by a DNF of size 22O(M/ϵ)2^{2^{O(M/\epsilon)}}. The dependence on MM is sharp up to the constant factor in the double exponent.Comment: 14 page
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