Rational degree is polynomially related to degree

Matt Kovacs-Deak
Daochen Wang
Rain Zimin Yang
2026

Abstract

We prove that deg(f) = O~(rdeg(f)) for every Boolean function f, where deg(f) is the degree of f and rdeg(f) is the rational degree of f. This resolves the second of the three open problems stated by Nisan and Szegedy, and attributed to Fortnow, in 1994.
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