Cited by 602Machine Learning and AlgorithmsComplexity and Algorithms in GraphsComputability, Logic, AI Algorithms

Noise-tolerant learning, the parity problem, and the statistical query model

Blum, Avrim, Kalai, Adam, Wasserman, Hal·2003·Journal of the ACM

Abstract

We describe a slightly subexponential time algorithm for learning parity functions in the presence of random classification noise, a problem closely related to several cryptographic and coding problems. Our algorithm runs in polynomial time for the case of parity functions that depend on only the first O (log n log log n ) bits of input, which provides the first known instance of an efficient noise-tolerant algorithm for a concept class that is not learnable in the Statistical Query model of Kearns [1998]. Thus, we demonstrate that the set of problems learnable in the statistical query model is a strict subset of those problems learnable in the presence of noise in the PAC model.In coding-theory terms, what we give is a poly( n )-time algorithm for decoding linear k × n codes in the presence of random noise for the case of k = c log n log log n for some c > 0. (The case of k = O (log n ) is trivial since one can just individually check each of the 2 k possible messages and choose the one that yields the closest codeword.)A natural extension of the statistical query model is to allow queries about statistical properties that involve t -tuples of examples, as opposed to just single examples. The second result of this article is to show that any class of functions learnable (strongly or weakly) with t -wise queries for t = O (log n ) is also weakly learnable with standard unary queries. Hence, this natural extension to the statistical query model does not increase the set of wea…

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1145/792538.792543

Cites

17 of 17 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Zelikman et al.'s system is not a general-purpose coding agent with the ability to work on arbitrary software engineering tasks.

    “Again, this is not a general-purpose coding agent with the ability to e.g.work on arbitrary software engineering tasks, and as such, it self-improves and evaluates and only on algorithmic tasks such as learning parity with noise (Blum et al., 2003), String Grid Distance, and 3-SAT.”

    From A Self-Improving Coding Agent (2025) · cites this paper as Blum et al., 2003

  • Zelikman et al.'s system self-improves and evaluates only on algorithmic tasks such as learning parity with noise, String Grid Distance, and 3-SAT.

    “Again, this is not a general-purpose coding agent with the ability to e.g.work on arbitrary software engineering tasks, and as such, it self-improves and evaluates and only on algorithmic tasks such as learning parity with noise (Blum et al., 2003), String Grid Distance, and 3-SAT.”

    From A Self-Improving Coding Agent (2025) · cites this paper as Blum et al., 2003

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Blum, A., Kalai, A., & Wasserman, H.
Affiliations
Carnegie Mellon University (US)
Venue
Journal of the ACM
Published
2003-07
Volume
50
Issue
4
Pages
506-519
ISSN
  • 0004-5411 (ISSN-L)
  • 1557-735X
OpenAlex
W2065151783
Cited by
598
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 29
FWCI
9.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Journal of the ACM (publishedVersion)
  • KiltHub Repository (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Machine Learning and Algorithms
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Complexity and Algorithms in Graphs
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms
Keywords
noise-tolerant learning, parity function, statistical query model, PAC learning, subexponential algorithms

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review