We study complexity measures on subsets of the boolean hypercube and exhibit connections between algebra (the Hilbert function) and combinatorics (VC theory). These connections yield results in both directions. Our main complexity-theoretic result proves that most linear program feasibility problems cannot be computed by polynomial-sized constant-depth circuits. Moreover, our result ... more >>>

For $S\subseteq \mathbb{F}^n$, consider the linear space of restrictions of degree-$d$ polynomials to $S$. The Hilbert function of $S$, denoted $\mathrm{h}_S(d,\mathbb{F})$, is the dimension of this space. We obtain a tight lower bound on the smallest value of the Hilbert function of subsets $S$ of arbitrary finite grids in $\mathbb{F}^n$ ... more >>>

Let f be a product of D generic linear forms in m variables over a field of characteristic 0, and for integers k, l >= 0 let Gamma_{k,l}(f) = dim S_l * partial^k f be its shifted partial derivative measure, the complexity measure behind the known lower bounds for homogeneous ... more >>>