261 research outputs found
Learning First-Order Definitions of Functions
First-order learning involves finding a clause-form definition of a relation
from examples of the relation and relevant background information. In this
paper, a particular first-order learning system is modified to customize it for
finding definitions of functional relations. This restriction leads to faster
learning times and, in some cases, to definitions that have higher predictive
accuracy. Other first-order learning systems might benefit from similar
specialization.Comment: See http://www.jair.org/ for any accompanying file
Fast and Powerful Hashing using Tabulation
Randomized algorithms are often enjoyed for their simplicity, but the hash
functions employed to yield the desired probabilistic guarantees are often too
complicated to be practical. Here we survey recent results on how simple
hashing schemes based on tabulation provide unexpectedly strong guarantees.
Simple tabulation hashing dates back to Zobrist [1970]. Keys are viewed as
consisting of characters and we have precomputed character tables
mapping characters to random hash values. A key
is hashed to . This schemes is
very fast with character tables in cache. While simple tabulation is not even
4-independent, it does provide many of the guarantees that are normally
obtained via higher independence, e.g., linear probing and Cuckoo hashing.
Next we consider twisted tabulation where one input character is "twisted" in
a simple way. The resulting hash function has powerful distributional
properties: Chernoff-Hoeffding type tail bounds and a very small bias for
min-wise hashing. This also yields an extremely fast pseudo-random number
generator that is provably good for many classic randomized algorithms and
data-structures.
Finally, we consider double tabulation where we compose two simple tabulation
functions, applying one to the output of the other, and show that this yields
very high independence in the classic framework of Carter and Wegman [1977]. In
fact, w.h.p., for a given set of size proportional to that of the space
consumed, double tabulation gives fully-random hashing. We also mention some
more elaborate tabulation schemes getting near-optimal independence for given
time and space.
While these tabulation schemes are all easy to implement and use, their
analysis is not
On weighted depths in random binary search trees
Following the model introduced by Aguech, Lasmar and Mahmoud [Probab. Engrg.
Inform. Sci. 21 (2007) 133-141], the weighted depth of a node in a labelled
rooted tree is the sum of all labels on the path connecting the node to the
root. We analyze weighted depths of nodes with given labels, the last inserted
node, nodes ordered as visited by the depth first search process, the weighted
path length and the weighted Wiener index in a random binary search tree. We
establish three regimes of nodes depending on whether the second order
behaviour of their weighted depths follows from fluctuations of the keys on the
path, the depth of the nodes, or both. Finally, we investigate a random
distribution function on the unit interval arising as scaling limit for
weighted depths of nodes with at most one child
An Active Learning Algorithm for Ranking from Pairwise Preferences with an Almost Optimal Query Complexity
We study the problem of learning to rank from pairwise preferences, and solve
a long-standing open problem that has led to development of many heuristics but
no provable results for our particular problem. Given a set of
elements, we wish to linearly order them given pairwise preference labels. A
pairwise preference label is obtained as a response, typically from a human, to
the question "which if preferred, u or v?u,v\in V{n\choose 2}$ possibilities only. We present an active learning algorithm for
this problem, with query bounds significantly beating general (non active)
bounds for the same error guarantee, while almost achieving the information
theoretical lower bound. Our main construct is a decomposition of the input
s.t. (i) each block incurs high loss at optimum, and (ii) the optimal solution
respecting the decomposition is not much worse than the true opt. The
decomposition is done by adapting a recent result by Kenyon and Schudy for a
related combinatorial optimization problem to the query efficient setting. We
thus settle an open problem posed by learning-to-rank theoreticians and
practitioners: What is a provably correct way to sample preference labels? To
further show the power and practicality of our solution, we show how to use it
in concert with an SVM relaxation.Comment: Fixed a tiny error in theorem 3.1 statemen
How Good Is Multi-Pivot Quicksort?
Multi-Pivot Quicksort refers to variants of classical quicksort where in the
partitioning step pivots are used to split the input into segments.
For many years, multi-pivot quicksort was regarded as impractical, but in 2009
a 2-pivot approach by Yaroslavskiy, Bentley, and Bloch was chosen as the
standard sorting algorithm in Sun's Java 7. In 2014 at ALENEX, Kushagra et al.
introduced an even faster algorithm that uses three pivots. This paper studies
what possible advantages multi-pivot quicksort might offer in general. The
contributions are as follows: Natural comparison-optimal algorithms for
multi-pivot quicksort are devised and analyzed. The analysis shows that the
benefits of using multiple pivots with respect to the average comparison count
are marginal and these strategies are inferior to simpler strategies such as
the well known median-of- approach. A substantial part of the partitioning
cost is caused by rearranging elements. A rigorous analysis of an algorithm for
rearranging elements in the partitioning step is carried out, observing mainly
how often array cells are accessed during partitioning. The algorithm behaves
best if 3 to 5 pivots are used. Experiments show that this translates into good
cache behavior and is closest to predicting observed running times of
multi-pivot quicksort algorithms. Finally, it is studied how choosing pivots
from a sample affects sorting cost. The study is theoretical in the sense that
although the findings motivate design recommendations for multipivot quicksort
algorithms that lead to running time improvements over known algorithms in an
experimental setting, these improvements are small.Comment: Submitted to a journal, v2: Fixed statement of Gibb's inequality, v3:
Revised version, especially improving on the experiments in Section
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