Single versus multiple rounds for distributed function computation

Anand K. Dhulipala, Christina Fragouli, Alon Orlitsky

Abstract: Communication complexity of computing functions using unrestricted communication and one-round communication are compared. In the standard unrestricted communication each party could potentially communicate several times while in one-round communication each party is restricted to communicate at most once. Results on the ratio of these two complexities are provided for symmetric and asymmetric functions under different scenarios. These results are suitably illustrated with examples.