Classification via two-way comparisons
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Given a weighted, ordered query set Q and a partition of Q into classes, we study the problem of computing a minimum-cost decision tree that, given any query q in Q, uses equality tests and less-than comparisons to determine the class to which q belongs. Such a tree can be much smaller than a lookup table, and much faster and smaller than a conventional search tree. We give the first polynomial-time algorithm for the problem. The algorithm extends naturally to the setting where each query has multiple allowed classes.
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