On (simple) decision tree rank

In the decision tree computation model for Boolean functions, the depth corresponds to query complexity, and the size corresponds to storage space. The depth measure is the most well-studied one, and is known to be polynomially related to several non-computational complexity measures of functions such as certificate complexity. The size measure is also studied, but to a lesser extent. Another decision tree measure that has received very little attention is the minimal rank of the decision tree, first introduced by Ehrenfeucht and Haussler in 1989. This measure is closely related to the logarithm of the size, but is not polynomially related to depth, and hence it can reveal additional information about the complexity of a function. It is characterised by the value of a Prover-Delayer game first proposed by Pudlák and Impagliazzo in the context of tree-like resolution proofs.

In this paper we study this measure further. We obtain an upper bound on depth in terms of rank and Fourier sparsity. We obtain upper and lower bounds on rank in terms of (variants of) certificate complexity. We also obtain upper and lower bounds on the rank for composed functions in terms of the depth of the outer function and the rank of the inner function. This allows us to easily recover known asympotical lower bounds on logarithm of the size for Iterated AND-OR and Iterated 3-bit Majority. We compute the rank exactly for several natural functions and use them to show that all the bounds we have obtained are tight. We also show that rank in the simple decision tree model can be used to bound query complexity, or depth, in the more general conjunctive decision tree model. Finally, we improve upon the known size lower bound for the Tribes function and conclude that in the size-rank relationship for decision trees, obtained by Ehrenfeucht and Haussler, the upper bound for Tribes is asymptotically tight.