Maximization of Approximately Submodular Functions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Horel, Thibaut, Singer, Yaron
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Horel, Thibaut
Singer, Yaron
author_facet Horel, Thibaut
Singer, Yaron
contents We study the problem of maximizing a function that is approximately submodular under a cardinality constraint. Approximate submodularity implicitly appears in a wide range of applications as in many cases errors in evaluation of a submodular function break submodularity. Say that $F$ is $\varepsilon$-approximately submodular if there exists a submodular function $f$ such that $(1-\varepsilon)f(S) \leq F(S)\leq (1+\varepsilon)f(S)$ for all subsets $S$. We are interested in characterizing the query-complexity of maximizing $F$ subject to a cardinality constraint $k$ as a function of the error level $\varepsilon>0$. We provide both lower and upper bounds: for $\varepsilon>n^{-1/2}$ we show an exponential query-complexity lower bound. In contrast, when $\varepsilon< {1}/{k}$ or under a stronger bounded curvature assumption, we give constant approximation algorithms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_10949
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Maximization of Approximately Submodular Functions
Horel, Thibaut
Singer, Yaron
Data Structures and Algorithms
Computational Complexity
We study the problem of maximizing a function that is approximately submodular under a cardinality constraint. Approximate submodularity implicitly appears in a wide range of applications as in many cases errors in evaluation of a submodular function break submodularity. Say that $F$ is $\varepsilon$-approximately submodular if there exists a submodular function $f$ such that $(1-\varepsilon)f(S) \leq F(S)\leq (1+\varepsilon)f(S)$ for all subsets $S$. We are interested in characterizing the query-complexity of maximizing $F$ subject to a cardinality constraint $k$ as a function of the error level $\varepsilon>0$. We provide both lower and upper bounds: for $\varepsilon>n^{-1/2}$ we show an exponential query-complexity lower bound. In contrast, when $\varepsilon< {1}/{k}$ or under a stronger bounded curvature assumption, we give constant approximation algorithms.
title Maximization of Approximately Submodular Functions
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
Computational Complexity
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10949