Optimal redundancy of function-correcting codes

Abstract: Function-correcting codes, introduced by Lenz, Bitar, Wachter-Zeh, and Yaakobi, protect specific function values of a message rather than the entire message. A central challenge is determining the optimal redundancy -- the minimum additional information required to recover function values amid errors. This redundancy depends on both the number of correctable errors $t$ and the structure of message vectors yielding identical function values. While prior works established bounds, key questions remain, such as the optimal redundancy for functions like Hamming weight and Hamming weight distribution, along with efficient code constructions. In this paper, we make the following contributions: (1) For the Hamming weight function, we improve the lower bound on optimal redundancy from $\frac{10(t-1)}{3}$ to $4t - \frac{4}{3}\sqrt{6t+2} + 2$. On the other hand, we provide a systematical approach to constructing explicit FCCs via a novel connection with Gray codes, which also improve the previous upper bound from $\frac{4t-2}{1 - 2\sqrt{\log{2t}/(2t)}}$ to $4t - \log{t}$. Consequently, we almost determine the optimal redundancy for Hamming weight function. (2) The Hamming weight distribution function is defined by the value of Hamming weight divided by a given positive integer $T$. Previous work established that the optimal redundancy is $2t$ when $T > 2t$, while the case $T \le 2t$ remained unclear. We show that the optimal redundancy remains $2t$ when $T \ge t+1$. However, in the surprising regime where $T = o(t)$, we achieve near-optimal redundancy of $4t - o(t)$. Our results reveal a significant distinction in behavior of redundancy for distinct choices of $T$.