We show that for any constant \epsilon > 0 and p \ge 1, it is possible to distinguish functions f : \{0,1\}^n \to [0,1] that are submodular from those that are \epsilon-far from every submodular function in \ell_p distance with a constant number of queries. More generally, we extend the testing-by-implicit-learning framework of Diakonikolas et al.(2007) to show that every property of real-valued functions that is well-approximated in \ell_2 distance by a class of k-juntas for some k = O(1) can be tested in the \ell_p-testing model with a constant number of queries. This result, combined with a recent junta theorem of Feldman and \Vondrak (2016), yields the constant-query testability of submodularity. It also yields constant-query testing algorithms for a variety of other natural properties of valuation functions, including fractionally additive (XOS) functions, OXS functions, unit demand functions, coverage functions, and self-bounding functions.
@InProceedings{blais_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.33, author = {Blais, Eric and Bommireddi, Abhinav}, title = {{Testing Submodularity and Other Properties of Valuation Functions}}, booktitle = {8th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2017)}, pages = {33:1--33:17}, series = {Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)}, ISBN = {978-3-95977-029-3}, ISSN = {1868-8969}, year = {2017}, volume = {67}, editor = {Papadimitriou, Christos H.}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, address = {Dagstuhl, Germany}, URL = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.33}, URN = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-81619}, doi = {10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2017.33}, annote = {Keywords: Property testing, Testing by implicit learning, Self-bounding functions} }
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