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The Brunn-Minkowski Theorem and Influences of Boolean Variables

The Brunn-Minkowski theorem states that for sets A and B in R^n that satisfy mild assumptions like convexity, the nth root of the volume of their sum A + B is greater than or equal to the sum of the nth roots of the individual volumes of A and B. The theorem is proved for axis-aligned boxes and then generalized to arbitrary sets that are unions of boxes through an induction argument. The theorem has applications in proving isoperimetric inequalities and bounds on Boolean function influences.

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52 views7 pages

The Brunn-Minkowski Theorem and Influences of Boolean Variables

The Brunn-Minkowski theorem states that for sets A and B in R^n that satisfy mild assumptions like convexity, the nth root of the volume of their sum A + B is greater than or equal to the sum of the nth roots of the individual volumes of A and B. The theorem is proved for axis-aligned boxes and then generalized to arbitrary sets that are unions of boxes through an induction argument. The theorem has applications in proving isoperimetric inequalities and bounds on Boolean function influences.

Uploaded by

Ashoka Vanjare
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 7

The Brunn-Minkowski Theorem and Inuences of


Boolean Variables
Friday 25, 2005
Lecturer: Nati Linial
Notes: Mukund Narasimhan
Theorem 7.1 (Brunn-Minkowski). If A, B R
n
satisfy some mild assumptions (in particular, convexity
sufces), then
[vol (A + B)]
1
n
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
where A + B = {a + b : a A and b B}.
Proof. First, suppose that A and B are axis aligned boxes, say A =

n
j=1
I
j
and B =

n
i=1
J
i
, where
each I
j
and J
i
is an interval with |I
j
| = x
j
and |J
i
| = y
i
. We may assume WLOG that I
j
= [0, x
j
] and
J
i
= [0, y
i
] and hence A + B =

n
i=1
[0, x
i
+ y
i
]. For this case, the BM inequality asserts that
n

i=1
(x
i
+ y
i
)
1
n

n

i=1
x
1
n
i

n

i=1
y
1
n
i
1
_

_
x
i
x
i
+ y
i
__1
n

_
y
i
x
i
+ y
i
__1
n
Now, since the arithmetic mean of n numbers is bounded above by their harmonic mean, we have (

i
)
1
n

i
n
and (

(1
i
))
1
n

P
(1
i
)
n
. Taking
i
=
x
i
x
i
+y
i
and hence 1
i
=
y
i
x
i
+y
i
, we see that the above
inequality always holds. Hence the BM inequality holds whenever A and B are axis aligned boxes.
Now, suppose that A and B are the disjoint union of axis aligned boxes. Suppose that A =

A
A

and B =

B
B

. We proceed by induction on |A| + |B|. We may assume WLOG that |A| > 1. Since
the boxes are disjoint, there is a hyperplane separating two boxes in A. We may assume WLOG that this
hyperplane is x
1
= 0.
42
A A
+
A

Let A
+
= {x A : x
1
0} and A

= {x A : x
1
0} as shown in the gure above. It is clear that
both A
+
and A

are the disjoint union of axis aligned boxes. In fact, we may let A
+
=

A
+ A

and
A

A
A

where |A
+
| < |A| and |A

| < |A|. Suppose that


vol(A
+
)
vol(A)
= . Pick a so that
vol ({x B : x
1
})
vol (B)
=
We can always do this by the mean value theorem because the function f() =
vol({xB:x
1
})
vol(B)
is continu-
ous, and f() 0 as and and f() 1 as .
Let B
+
= {x B : x
1
} and B

= {x B : x
1
}. By induction, we may apply BM to both
(A
+
, B
+
) and (A

, B

), obtaining
_
vol
_
A
+
+ B
+
_ 1
n

_
vol
_
A
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B
+
_ 1
n
_
vol
_
A

+ B

_ 1
n

_
vol
_
A

_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B

_ 1
n
Now,
_
vol
_
A
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B
+
_ 1
n
=
1
n
_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
_
vol
_
A

_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B

_ 1
n
= (1 )
1
n
_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
Hence
_
vol
_
A
+
+ B
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
A

+ B

_ 1
n

_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
The general case follows by a limiting argument (without the analysis for the case where equality holds).
Suppose that f : S
1
R is a mapping having a Lipshitz constant 1. Hence
f(x) f(y) x y
2
Let be the median of f, so
= prob[{x S
n
: f(x) < }] =
1
2
43
We assume that the probability distribution always admits such a (at least approximately). The following
inequality holds for every > 0 as a simple consequence of the isoperimetric inequality on the sphere.
{x S
n
: |f | > } < 2e
n/2
For A S
n
and for > 0, let
A

= {x S
n
: dist x, A < }
Question 7.1. Find a set A S
n
with A = a for which A

is the smallest.
The probability used here is the (normalized) Haar measure. The answer is always a spherical cap, and
in particular if a =
1
2
, then the best A is the hemisphere (and so A

= {x S
n
: x
1
< }). We will show
that for A S
n
with A =
1
2
, A

1 2e

2
n/4
. If A is the hemisphere, then A

= 1 (e

2
n/2
), and
so the hemisphere is the best possible set.
But rst, a small variation on BM :
vol
_
A + B
2
_

_
vol (A) vol (B)
This follows from BM because
vol
_
A + B
2
_1
n
vol
_
A
2
_1
n
+ vol
_
B
2
_1
n
=
1
2
_
vol (A)
1
n
+ vol (B)
1
n
_

_
vol (A)
1
n
+ vol (B)
1
n
For A S
n
, let

A = {a : a A, 1 0}. Then A =
n+1
(

A). Let B = S
n
\ A

.
Lemma 7.2. If x

A and y

B, then

x + y
2

1

2
8
It follows that

A+

B
2
is contained in a ball of radius at most 1

2
8
. Hence
_
1

2
8
_
n+1
vol
_

A +

B
2
_

_
vol
_

A
_
vol
_

B
_

_
vol
_

B
_
2
Therefore, 2e

2
n/4
vol
_

B
_
.
44
7.1 Boolean Inuences
Let f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} be a boolean function. For a set S [n], the inuence of S on f, I
f
(S) is dened
as follows. When we pick {x
i
}
iS
uniformly at random, three things can happen.
1. f = 0 regardless of {x
i
}
iS
(suppose that this happens with probability q
0
).
2. f = 1 regardless of {x
i
}
iS
(suppose that this happens with probability q
1
).
3. With probability Inf
f
(S) := 1 q
0
q
1
, f is still undetermined.
Some examples:
(Dictatorship) f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = x
1
. In this case
Inf
dictatorship
(S) =
_
1 if i S
0 if i S
(Majority) For n = 2k + 1, f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) is 1 if and only if a majority of the x
i
are 1. For
example, if S = {1},
Inf
majority
({1}) = prob (x
1
is the tie breaker )
=
_
2k
k
_
2
2k
=
_
1

k
_
For fairly small sets S,
Inf
majority
(S) =
_
|S|

n
_
(Parity) f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = 1 if and only if an even number of the x
i
s are 1. In this case
Inf
parity
({x
i
}) = 1
for every 1 i n.
Question 7.2. What is the smallest = (n) such that there exists a function f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} which
is balanced (i.e., Ef =
1
2
) for which Inf
f
({x
i
}) < for all x
i
?
Consider the following example, called tribes. The set of inputs {x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
} is partitioned into tribes
of size b each. Here, f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = 1 if and only if there is a tribe that unanimously 1.

45
Since we want Ef =
1
2
, we must have prob(f = 0) =
_
1
1
2
b
_n
b
=
1
2
. Therefore,
n
b
ln
_
1
1
2
b
_
=
ln2. We use the Taylor series expansion for ln(1 ) =
2
/2 = O(
2
) to get
n
b
_
1
2
b
+ O
_
1
4
b
__
= ln2. This yields n = b 2
b
ln2 (1 + O(1)). Hence b = log
2
n log
2
lnn + (1).
Hence,
Inf
tribes
(x) =
_
1
1
2
b
_
n/b

_
1
2
_
b1
=
_
1
1
2
b
_n
b
1
1
2
b

1
2
b1
=
1
1
1
2
b

1
2
b
=
1
2
b1
=
_
log b
n
_
In this example, each individual variable has inuence (log n/n). It was later shown that this is lowest
possible inuence.
Proposition 7.3. If Ef =
1
2
, then

x
Inf
f
(x) 1.
This is a special case of the edge isoperimetric inequality for the cube, and the inequality is tight if f is
dictatorship.
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1
The variable x is inuential in the cases indicated by the solid lines, and hence
Inf
f
(x) =
# of mixed edges
2
n1
Let S = f
1
(0). Then

Inf
f
(x) =
1
2
n1
e(S, S
c
).
46
One can use

f to compute inuences. For example, if f is monotone (so x y f(x) f(y)), then

f(S) =

T
(1)
|ST|
2
n
Therefore,

f({i}) =
1
2
n

iT
f(T)
1
2
n

iT
f(T)
=
1
2
n

iT
(f(T) f(T {i}))
=
1
2
n
# mixed edges in the direction of i
=
1
2
Inf
f
(x
i
)
Hence Inf
f
(x
i
) = 2

f({i}). What can be done to express Inf
f
(x) for a general f? Dene
f
(i)
(z) = f(z) f(z e
i
)
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
Then
Inf
f
(x
i
) =

supportf
(i)

w
_
f
(i)
(w)
_
2
47
The last term will be evaluated using Parseval. For this, we need to compute the Fourier expression of f
(i)
(expressed in terms of

f).

f
(i)
(S) =
1
2
n

T
f
(i)
(T)(1)
|ST|
=
1
2
n

T
_
f(T) f(T {i})
_
(1)
|ST|
=
1
2
n

iT
__
f(T) f(T {i}
_
(1)
|ST|
+
_
f(T {i}) f(T)
_
(1)
|S(T{i})|
_
=
1
2
n

iT
_
f(T) f(T {i}
_ _
(1)
|ST|
(1)
|S(T{i})|
_
=
_
0 if i S
2

f(S) if i S
Using Parseval on

f
(i)
along with the fact that

f
(i)
takes on only values {0, 1}, we conclude that
Inf
f
(x
i
) = 4

iS
|hatf(S)|
2
Next time, we will show that if Ef =
1
2
, then there exists a i such that

iS
_

f(S)
_
2
> (lnn/n).
Lemma 7.4. For every f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1}, there is a monotone g : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} such that
Eg = Ef.
For every s [n], Inf
g
(S) Inf
f
(S).
Proof. We use a shifting argument.
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1

f=0

f=0

f=1

f=1

f=1

f=0

f=1

f=0
Clearly E

f = Ef. We will showthat for all S, Inf

f
(S) Inf
f
(S). We may keep repeating the shifting
step until we obtain a monotone function g. It is clear that the process will terminate by considering the
progress measure

f(x) |x| which is strictly increasing. Therefore, we only need show that Inf

f
(() S)
Inf
f
(S).
48

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