Lecture 7

The Brunn-Minkowski Theorem and Inuences of

Boolean Variables
Friday 25, 2005
Lecturer: Nati Linial
Notes: Mukund Narasimhan
Theorem 7.1 (Brunn-Minkowski). If A, B R
n
satisfy some mild assumptions (in particular, convexity
sufces), then
[vol (A + B)]
1
n
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
where A + B = {a + b : a A and b B}.
Proof. First, suppose that A and B are axis aligned boxes, say A =

n
j=1
I
j
and B =

n
i=1
J
i
, where
each I
j
and J
i
is an interval with |I
j
| = x
j
and |J
i
| = y
i
. We may assume WLOG that I
j
= [0, x
j
] and
J
i
= [0, y
i
] and hence A + B =

n
i=1
[0, x
i
+ y
i
]. For this case, the BM inequality asserts that
n

i=1
(x
i
+ y
i
)
1
n

n

i=1
x
1
n
i

n

i=1
y
1
n
i
1
_

_
x
i
x
i
+ y
i
__1
n

_
y
i
x
i
+ y
i
__1
n
Now, since the arithmetic mean of n numbers is bounded above by their harmonic mean, we have (

i
)
1
n

i
n
and (

(1
i
))
1
n

P
(1
i
)
n
. Taking
i
=
x
i
x
i
+y
i
and hence 1
i
=
y
i
x
i
+y
i
, we see that the above
inequality always holds. Hence the BM inequality holds whenever A and B are axis aligned boxes.
Now, suppose that A and B are the disjoint union of axis aligned boxes. Suppose that A =

A
A

and B =

B
B

. We proceed by induction on |A| + |B|. We may assume WLOG that |A| > 1. Since
the boxes are disjoint, there is a hyperplane separating two boxes in A. We may assume WLOG that this
hyperplane is x
1
= 0.
42
A A
+
A

Let A
+
= {x A : x
1
0} and A

= {x A : x
1
0} as shown in the gure above. It is clear that
both A
+
and A

are the disjoint union of axis aligned boxes. In fact, we may let A
+
=

A
+ A

and
A

A
A

where |A
+
| < |A| and |A

| < |A|. Suppose that

vol(A
+
)
vol(A)
= . Pick a so that
vol ({x B : x
1
})
vol (B)
=
We can always do this by the mean value theorem because the function f() =
vol({xB:x
1
})
vol(B)
is continu-
ous, and f() 0 as and and f() 1 as .
Let B
+
= {x B : x
1
} and B

= {x B : x
1
}. By induction, we may apply BM to both
(A
+
, B
+
) and (A

, B

), obtaining
_
vol
_
A
+
+ B
+
_ 1
n

_
vol
_
A
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B
+
_ 1
n
_
vol
_
A

+ B

_ 1
n

_
vol
_
A

_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B

_ 1
n
Now,
_
vol
_
A
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B
+
_ 1
n
=
1
n
_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
_
vol
_
A

_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
B

_ 1
n
= (1 )
1
n
_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
Hence
_
vol
_
A
+
+ B
+
_ 1
n
+
_
vol
_
A

+ B

_ 1
n

_
[vol (A)]
1
n
+ [vol (B)]
1
n
_
The general case follows by a limiting argument (without the analysis for the case where equality holds).
Suppose that f : S
1
R is a mapping having a Lipshitz constant 1. Hence
f(x) f(y) x y
2
Let be the median of f, so
= prob[{x S
n
: f(x) < }] =
1
2
43
We assume that the probability distribution always admits such a (at least approximately). The following
inequality holds for every > 0 as a simple consequence of the isoperimetric inequality on the sphere.
{x S
n
: |f | > } < 2e
n/2
For A S
n
and for > 0, let
A

= {x S
n
: dist x, A < }
Question 7.1. Find a set A S
n
with A = a for which A

is the smallest.
The probability used here is the (normalized) Haar measure. The answer is always a spherical cap, and
in particular if a =
1
2
, then the best A is the hemisphere (and so A

= {x S
n
: x
1
< }). We will show
that for A S
n
with A =
1
2
, A

1 2e

2
n/4
. If A is the hemisphere, then A

= 1 (e

2
n/2
), and
so the hemisphere is the best possible set.
But rst, a small variation on BM :
vol
_
A + B
2
_

_
vol (A) vol (B)
This follows from BM because
vol
_
A + B
2
_1
n
vol
_
A
2
_1
n
+ vol
_
B
2
_1
n
=
1
2
_
vol (A)
1
n
+ vol (B)
1
n
_

_
vol (A)
1
n
+ vol (B)
1
n
For A S
n
, let

A = {a : a A, 1 0}. Then A =
n+1
(

A). Let B = S
n
\ A

.
Lemma 7.2. If x

A and y

B, then

x + y
2

1

2
8
It follows that

A+

B
2
is contained in a ball of radius at most 1

2
8
. Hence
_
1

2
8
_
n+1
vol
_

A +

B
2
_

_
vol
_

A
_
vol
_

B
_

_
vol
_

B
_
2
Therefore, 2e

2
n/4
vol
_

B
_
.
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7.1 Boolean Inuences
Let f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} be a boolean function. For a set S [n], the inuence of S on f, I
f
(S) is dened
as follows. When we pick {x
i
}
iS
uniformly at random, three things can happen.
1. f = 0 regardless of {x
i
}
iS
(suppose that this happens with probability q
0
).
2. f = 1 regardless of {x
i
}
iS
(suppose that this happens with probability q
1
).
3. With probability Inf
f
(S) := 1 q
0
q
1
, f is still undetermined.
Some examples:
(Dictatorship) f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = x
1
. In this case
Inf
dictatorship
(S) =
_
1 if i S
0 if i S
(Majority) For n = 2k + 1, f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) is 1 if and only if a majority of the x
i
are 1. For
example, if S = {1},
Inf
majority
({1}) = prob (x
1
is the tie breaker )
=
_
2k
k
_
2
2k
=
_
1

k
_
For fairly small sets S,
Inf
majority
(S) =
_
|S|

n
_
(Parity) f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = 1 if and only if an even number of the x
i
s are 1. In this case
Inf
parity
({x
i
}) = 1
for every 1 i n.
Question 7.2. What is the smallest = (n) such that there exists a function f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} which
is balanced (i.e., Ef =
1
2
) for which Inf
f
({x
i
}) < for all x
i
?
Consider the following example, called tribes. The set of inputs {x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
} is partitioned into tribes
of size b each. Here, f(x
1
, x
2
, . . . , x
n
) = 1 if and only if there is a tribe that unanimously 1.

45
Since we want Ef =
1
2
, we must have prob(f = 0) =
_
1
1
2
b
_n
b
=
1
2
. Therefore,
n
b
ln
_
1
1
2
b
_
=
ln2. We use the Taylor series expansion for ln(1 ) =
2
/2 = O(
2
) to get
n
b
_
1
2
b
+ O
_
1
4
b
__
= ln2. This yields n = b 2
b
ln2 (1 + O(1)). Hence b = log
2
n log
2
lnn + (1).
Hence,
Inf
tribes
(x) =
_
1
1
2
b
_
n/b

_
1
2
_
b1
=
_
1
1
2
b
_n
b
1
1
2
b

1
2
b1
=
1
1
1
2
b

1
2
b
=
1
2
b1
=
_
log b
n
_
In this example, each individual variable has inuence (log n/n). It was later shown that this is lowest
possible inuence.
Proposition 7.3. If Ef =
1
2
, then

x
Inf
f
(x) 1.
This is a special case of the edge isoperimetric inequality for the cube, and the inequality is tight if f is
dictatorship.
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1
The variable x is inuential in the cases indicated by the solid lines, and hence
Inf
f
(x) =
# of mixed edges
2
n1
Let S = f
1
(0). Then

Inf
f
(x) =
1
2
n1
e(S, S
c
).
46
One can use

f to compute inuences. For example, if f is monotone (so x y f(x) f(y)), then

f(S) =

T
(1)
|ST|
2
n
Therefore,

f({i}) =
1
2
n

iT
f(T)
1
2
n

iT
f(T)
=
1
2
n

iT
(f(T) f(T {i}))
=
1
2
n
# mixed edges in the direction of i
=
1
2
Inf
f
(x
i
)
Hence Inf
f
(x
i
) = 2

f({i}). What can be done to express Inf
f
(x) for a general f? Dene
f
(i)
(z) = f(z) f(z e
i
)
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=0
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
f
(i)
=1
Then
Inf
f
(x
i
) =

supportf
(i)

w
_
f
(i)
(w)
_
2
47
The last term will be evaluated using Parseval. For this, we need to compute the Fourier expression of f
(i)
(expressed in terms of

f).

f
(i)
(S) =
1
2
n

T
f
(i)
(T)(1)
|ST|
=
1
2
n

T
_
f(T) f(T {i})
_
(1)
|ST|
=
1
2
n

iT
__
f(T) f(T {i}
_
(1)
|ST|
+
_
f(T {i}) f(T)
_
(1)
|S(T{i})|
_
=
1
2
n

iT
_
f(T) f(T {i}
_ _
(1)
|ST|
(1)
|S(T{i})|
_
=
_
0 if i S
2

f(S) if i S
Using Parseval on

f
(i)
along with the fact that

f
(i)
takes on only values {0, 1}, we conclude that
Inf
f
(x
i
) = 4

iS
|hatf(S)|
2
Next time, we will show that if Ef =
1
2
, then there exists a i such that

iS
_

f(S)
_
2
> (lnn/n).
Lemma 7.4. For every f : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1}, there is a monotone g : {0, 1}
n
{0, 1} such that
Eg = Ef.
For every s [n], Inf
g
(S) Inf
f
(S).
Proof. We use a shifting argument.
x = 0
x = 1
f=0
f=0
f=1
f=1
f=1
f=0
f=0
f=1

f=0

f=0

f=1

f=1

f=1

f=0

f=1

f=0
Clearly E

f = Ef. We will showthat for all S, Inf

f
(S) Inf
f
(S). We may keep repeating the shifting
step until we obtain a monotone function g. It is clear that the process will terminate by considering the
progress measure

f(x) |x| which is strictly increasing. Therefore, we only need show that Inf

f
(() S)
Inf
f
(S).
48