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Testing Properties of Multiple Distributions with Few Samples

Abstract

We propose a new setting for testing properties of distributions while receiving samples from several distributions, but few samples per distribution. Given samples from ss distributions, p1,p2,,psp_1, p_2, \ldots, p_s, we design testers for the following problems: (1) Uniformity Testing: Testing whether all the pip_i's are uniform or ϵ\epsilon-far from being uniform in 1\ell_1-distance (2) Identity Testing: Testing whether all the pip_i's are equal to an explicitly given distribution qq or ϵ\epsilon-far from qq in 1\ell_1-distance, and (3) Closeness Testing: Testing whether all the pip_i's are equal to a distribution qq which we have sample access to, or ϵ\epsilon-far from qq in 1\ell_1-distance. By assuming an additional natural condition about the source distributions, we provide sample optimal testers for all of these problems.

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