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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 tests to determine\(q\)'s class. Such a tree can be faster and smaller than a conventional search tree and smaller than a lookup table (both of which must identify\(q\), not just its class). We give the first polynomial-time algorithm for the problem. The algorithm extends naturally to the setting where each query has multiple allowed classes. 

Abstract It is natural to generalize the online$$k$$ $k$-Server problem by allowing each request to specify not only a pointp, but also a subsetSof servers that may serve it. To date, only a few special cases of this problem have been studied. The objective of the work presented in this paper has been to more systematically explore this generalization in the case of uniform and star metrics. For uniform metrics, the problem is equivalent to a generalization of Paging in which each request specifies not only a pagep, but also a subsetSof cache slots, and is satisfied by having a copy ofpin some slot inS. We call this problemSlot-Heterogenous Paging. In realistic settings only certain subsets of cache slots or servers would appear in requests. Therefore we parameterize the problem by specifying a family$${\mathcal {S}}\subseteq 2^{[k]}$$ $S\subseteq 2^{\left[k\right]}$of requestable slot sets, and we establish bounds on the competitive ratio as a function of the cache sizekand family$${\mathcal {S}}$$ $S$:If all request sets are allowed ($${\mathcal {S}}=2^{[k]}\setminus \{\emptyset \}$$ $S=2^{\left[k\right]}\backslash \left\{\varnothing \right\}$), the optimal deterministic and randomized competitive ratios are exponentially worse than for standard Paging ($${\mathcal {S}}=\{[k]\}$$ $S=\left\{\right[k\left]\right\}$).As a function of$$|{\mathcal {S}}|$$ $\left|S\right|$andk, the optimal deterministic ratio is polynomial: at most$$O(k^2|{\mathcal {S}}|)$$ $O\left(k^2\right|S\left|\right)$and at least$$\Omega (\sqrt{|{\mathcal {S}}|})$$ $\Omega \left(\sqrt{\left|S\right|}\right)$.For any laminar family$${\mathcal {S}}$$ $S$of heighth, the optimal ratios areO(hk) (deterministic) and$$O(h^2\log k)$$ $O(h^{2}logk)$(randomized).The special case of laminar$${\mathcal {S}}$$ $S$that we callAll-or-One Pagingextends standard Paging by allowing each request to specify a specific slot to put the requested page in. The optimal deterministic ratio forweightedAll-or-One Paging is$$\Theta (k)$$ $\Theta \left(k\right)$. Offline All-or-One Paging is$$\mathbb{N}\mathbb{P}$$ $NP$-hard.Some results for the laminar case are shown via a reduction to the generalization of Paging in which each request specifies a set$$P$$ $P$ofpages, and is satisfied by fetching any page from$$P$$ $P$into the cache. The optimal ratios for the latter problem (with laminar family of heighth) are at mosthk(deterministic) and$$hH_k$$ $h{H}_k$(randomized).