The Discrepancy Method: Randomness and Complexity

By Bernard Chazelle

The discrepancy method has produced the most fruitful line of attack on a pivotal computer science question: What is the computational power of random bits? It has also played a major role in recent developments in complexity theory. This book tells the story of the discrepancy method in a few succinct independent vignettes. The chapters explore such topics as communication complexity, pseudo-randomness, rapidly mixing Markov chains, points on a sphere, derandomization, convex hulls and Voronoi diagrams, linear programming, geometric sampling and VC-dimension theory, minimum spanning trees, circuit complexity, and multidimensional searching. The mathematical treatment is thorough and self-contained, with minimal prerequisites. More information can be found on the book's home page at http: //www.cs.princeton.edu/ chazelle/book.html.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521770939
• ISBN13: 9780521770934
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 494 Pages
• Weight: 1.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"