{"paper":{"title":"Search using queries on indistinguishable items","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"cs.DS","authors_text":"Gal Oshri, Mark Braverman","submitted_at":"2013-02-04T22:34:59Z","abstract_excerpt":"We investigate the problem of determining a set S of k indistinguishable integers in the range [1,n]. The algorithm is allowed to query an integer $q\\in [1,n]$, and receive a response comparing this integer to an integer randomly chosen from S. The algorithm has no control over which element of S the query q is compared to. We show tight bounds for this problem. In particular, we show that in the natural regime where $k\\le n$, the optimal number of queries to attain $n^{-\\Omega(1)}$ error probability is $\\Theta(k^3 \\log n)$. In the regime where $k>n$, the optimal number of queries is $\\Theta(n"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"1302.0892","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}