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The Discrepancy Method

(Invited Presentation)

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Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 1998)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1533))

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Abstract

Discrepancy theory is the study of irregularities of distributions. A typical question is: given a “complicated” distribution, find a “simple” one that approximates it well. As it turns out, many questions in complexity theory can be reduced to problems of that type. This raises the possibility that the deep mathematical techniques of discrepancy theory might be of utility to theoretical computer scientists. As will be discussed in this talk this is, indeed, the case. We will give several examples of breakthroughs derived through the application of the “discrepancy method.”

This work was supported in part by NSF Grant CCR-93-01254, NSF Grant CCR-96-23768, ARO Grant DAAH04-96-1-0181, and NEC Research Institute.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princeton University, USA

    Bernard Chazelle

  2. Ecole Polytechnique, France

    Bernard Chazelle

Authors
  1. Bernard Chazelle
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1, Kusong-dong, Yusong-gu, Taejon, 305-701, Korea

    Kyung-Yong Chwa

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Oscar H. Ibarra

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© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Chazelle, B. (1998). The Discrepancy Method. In: Chwa, KY., Ibarra, O.H. (eds) Algorithms and Computation. ISAAC 1998. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1533. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49381-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-49381-6_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-65385-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49381-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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