1978/01/01 by Ronald L. Rivest, Albert R. Meyer, Daniel J. Kleitman · 1 citation
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Machine Learning and Algorithms #Algorithms and Data Compression #Data Quality and Management
paper · pdf · doi:10.1145/800133.804351
openalex publication_date 1978/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
We consider the problem of identifying an unknown value xε1,2,...,n using only comparisons of x to constants when as many as E of 'the comparisons may receive erroneous answers. For a continuous analogue of this problem we show that there is a unique strategy that is optimal in the worst case. This strategy for the continuous problem is then shown to yield a strategy for the original discrete problem that uses log2n+E.log2log2n+O(E.log2E) comparisons in the worst case. This number is shown to be optimal even if arbitrary “Yes-No” questions are allowed.