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<art>
   <ui>1748-7188-3-1</ui>
   <ji>1748-7188</ji>
   <fm>
      <dochead>Research</dochead>
      <bibl>
         <title>
            <p>Reconstructing phylogenies from noisy quartets in polynomial time with a high success probability</p>
         </title>
         <aug>
            <au id="A1" ca="yes">
               <snm>Wu</snm>
               <fnm>Gang</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
               <email>wgang@cs.ualberta.ca</email>
            </au>
            <au id="A2" ca="yes">
               <snm>Kao</snm>
               <fnm>Ming-Yang</fnm>
               <insr iid="I2"/>
               <email>kao@cs.northwestern.edu</email>
            </au>
            <au id="A3">
               <snm>Lin</snm>
               <fnm>Guohui</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
               <email>ghlin@cs.ualberta.ca</email>
            </au>
            <au id="A4">
               <snm>You</snm>
               <fnm>Jia-Huai</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
               <email>you@cs.ualberta.ca</email>
            </au>
         </aug>
         <insg>
            <ins id="I1">
               <p>Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E8, Canada</p>
            </ins>
            <ins id="I2">
               <p>Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA</p>
            </ins>
         </insg>
         <source>Algorithms for Molecular Biology</source>
         <issn>1748-7188</issn>
         <pubdate>2008</pubdate>
         <volume>3</volume>
         <issue>1</issue>
         <fpage>1</fpage>
         <url>http://www.almob.org/content/3/1/1</url>
         <xrefbib>
            <pubidlist>
               <pubid idtype="pmpid">18218120</pubid>
               <pubid idtype="doi">10.1186/1748-7188-3-1</pubid>
            </pubidlist>
         </xrefbib>
      </bibl>
      <history>
         <rec>
            <date>
               <day>14</day>
               <month>11</month>
               <year>2006</year>
            </date>
         </rec>
         <acc>
            <date>
               <day>24</day>
               <month>1</month>
               <year>2008</year>
            </date>
         </acc>
         <pub>
            <date>
               <day>24</day>
               <month>1</month>
               <year>2008</year>
            </date>
         </pub>
      </history>
      <cpyrt>
         <year>2008</year>
         <collab>Wu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.</collab>
         <note>This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (<url>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0</url>), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</note>
      </cpyrt>
      <abs>
         <sec>
            <st>
               <p>Abstract</p>
            </st>
            <sec>
               <st>
                  <p>Background</p>
               </st>
               <p>In recent years, quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction methods have received considerable attentions in the computational biology community. Traditionally, the accuracy of a phylogeny reconstruction method is measured by simulations on synthetic datasets with known "true" phylogenies, while little theoretical analysis has been done. In this paper, we present a new model-based approach to measuring the accuracy of a quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction method. Under this model, we propose three efficient algorithms to reconstruct the "true" phylogeny with a high success probability.</p>
            </sec>
            <sec>
               <st>
                  <p>Results</p>
               </st>
               <p>The first algorithm can reconstruct the "true" phylogeny from the input quartet topology set without quartet errors in <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>2</sup>) time by querying at most (<it>n </it>- 4) log(<it>n </it>- 1) quartet topologies, where <it>n </it>is the number of the taxa. When the input quartet topology set contains errors, the second algorithm can reconstruct the "true" phylogeny with a probability approximately 1 - <it>p </it>in <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>4 </sup>log <it>n</it>) time, where <it>p </it>is the probability for a quartet topology being an error. This probability is improved by the third algorithm to approximately <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i1" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:msup><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mrow><m:mn>16</m:mn></m:mrow></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msup></m:mrow></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIXaqmcqGHRaWkcqWGXbqCdaahaaqabeaacqaIYaGmaaGaey4kaSYaaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIYaGmaaGaemyCae3aaWbaaeqabaGaeGinaqdaaiabgUcaRmaalaaabaGaeGymaedabaGaeGymaeJaeGOnaydaaiabdghaXnaaCaaabeqaaiabiwda1aaaaaaaaa@3D5A@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i2" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaemyCaeNaeyypa0tcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGWbaCaeaacqaIXaqmcqGHsislcqWGWbaCaaaaaa@3391@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, with running time of <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>5</sup>), which is at least 0.984 when <it>p </it>&lt; 0.05.</p>
            </sec>
            <sec>
               <st>
                  <p>Conclusion</p>
               </st>
               <p>The three proposed algorithms are mathematically guaranteed to reconstruct the "true" phylogeny with a high success probability. The experimental results showed that the third algorithm produced phylogenies with a higher probability than its aforementioned theoretical lower bound and outperformed some existing phylogeny reconstruction methods in both speed and accuracy.</p>
            </sec>
         </sec>
      </abs>
   </fm>
   <bdy>
      <sec>
         <st>
            <p>Background</p>
         </st>
         <p>Evolution is a basic process in biology. The evolutionary history, referred to as <it>phylogeny</it>, of a set of taxa can be mathematically defined as a tree where the leaves are labeled with the given taxa and the internal nodes represent extinct or hypothesized ancestors. There are rooted and unrooted phylogenies. In a <it>rooted </it>phylogeny, an edge specifies the parent-child relationship and the root represents a common ancestor of all the taxa. A rooted phylogeny is called <it>binary </it>or <it>resolved </it>if every internal node has exactly two children. In an <it>unrooted </it>phylogeny, there is no parent-child relationship specified for an edge; and it is called <it>binary </it>or <it>resolved </it>if every internal node has degree exactly 3.</p>
         <p>There have been many works on how to reconstruct rooted and unrooted phylogenies <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr><abbr bid="B2">2</abbr><abbr bid="B3">3</abbr></abbrgrp>. It is already known that rooted phylogenies and unrooted phylogenies can be transformed into each other <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B4">4</abbr></abbrgrp>, for example, by using an outgroup. In the remainder of this paper, a phylogeny refers to an unrooted binary phylogeny unless explicitly specified otherwise.</p>
         <p>Given a taxon set <it>S</it>, each subset of four taxa of <it>S </it>is called a <it>quartet </it>of <it>S</it>. In recent years, quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction methods have received considerable attentions in the computational biology community. In comparison with other phylogeny reconstruction methods, an advantage of quartet-based methods is that they can overcome the data disparity problem <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B5">5</abbr></abbrgrp>. An unrooted phylogeny (or topology) of a quartet is called its <it>quartet topology</it>. Given a quartet {<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>3</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>} of <it>S</it>, there are three possible topologies associated with it, up to symmetry. These three quartet topologies are shown in Figure <figr fid="F1">1</figr>. For simplicity, we use [<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>|<it>s</it><sub>3</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>] to denote the quartet topology in which the path connecting <it>s</it><sub>1 </sub>and <it>s</it><sub>2 </sub>does not intersect the path connecting <it>s</it><sub>3 </sub>and <it>s</it><sub>4 </sub>(see Figure <figr fid="F1">1(a)</figr>). The other two quartet topologies are [<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>3</sub>|<it>s</it><sub>2</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>] and [<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>|<it>s</it><sub>2</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>3</sub>].</p>
         <fig id="F1">
            <title>
               <p>Figure 1</p>
            </title>
            <caption>
               <p>The three possible quartet topologies for quartet {<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>3</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>}</p>
            </caption>
            <text>
               <p>The three possible quartet topologies for quartet {<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>3</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>4</sub>}.</p>
            </text>
            <graphic file="1748-7188-3-1-1"/>
         </fig>
         <p>Given a taxon set <it>S </it>and a phylogeny <it>T </it>on <it>S</it>, we can see that trimming all the other nodes (including the root if <it>T </it>is rooted) from <it>T </it>gives exactly one topology for every quartet of <it>S</it>. The quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction works inversely to first build a phylogeny for every quartet and then infer an overall phylogeny for the whole set of taxa. Suppose that <it>Q </it>is the set of quartet topologies built in the first step of a quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction, which can be done by various quartet inference methods <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B6">6</abbr><abbr bid="B7">7</abbr><abbr bid="B8">8</abbr></abbrgrp>. If there exists a phylogeny <it>T </it>such that a quartet topology <it>q </it>in <it>Q </it>is the same as the one derived from <it>T</it>, then we say that <it>T satisfies q</it>, and <it>q </it>is <it>consistent </it>with <it>T</it>. If there exists a phylogeny <it>T </it>satisfying all quartet topologies in <it>Q</it>, then we say that <it>Q </it>is <it>compatible </it>and <it>T </it>is the (unique) phylogeny <it>associated </it>with <it>Q</it>. In the ideal case where all quartet topologies are "correct," <it>i.e</it>., <it>Q </it>is compatible, the task of assembling an overall phylogeny is easy and can be done in <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>4</sup>) time <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B9">9</abbr></abbrgrp>, where <it>n </it>is the number of taxa under consideration. In practice, however, some quartet topologies may be erroneous. Therefore, the set of quartet topologies may contain conflicting quartet topologies. This possibility complicates the overall quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction and presents an interesting computational challenge.</p>
         <p>Given a taxon set <it>S</it>, we define the phylogeny that reveals the correct relationships among the taxa in <it>S </it>as the <it>"true" phylogeny </it>on <it>S</it>, denoted as <it>T</it><sub>true</sub>. The <it>accuracy </it>of a phylogeny reconstruction method is the extent to which the generated phylogeny agrees with the "true" phylogeny. In many applications, the "true" phylogeny is not available to us for real-life instances in the study of evolution. Therefore, to investigate the accuracy of different reconstruction methods, synthetic data are created with simulations using a given evolutionary model, where the "true" phylogeny is known. If a quartet topology <it>q </it>&#8712; <it>Q </it>conflicts with <it>T</it><sub>true</sub>, then <it>q </it>is a <it>quartet error</it>. Given a quartet topology set containing possible quartet errors, current phylogeny reconstruction methods seek to estimate the "true" phylogeny in one of the following two ways: (1) by a specific algorithm that leads to the determination of a phylogeny; or (2) by defining a measurement for the quality of generated phylogenies and searching for an optimal phylogeny. Purely algorithmic methods in the first category integrate phylogeny reconstruction and the definition of the preferred phylogeny tightly. These methods include quartet puzzling <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B10">10</abbr></abbrgrp>, the short quartet method <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B8">8</abbr></abbrgrp>, and semi-definite programming <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B4">4</abbr></abbrgrp>. The methods in the first category tend to be computationally fast because they proceed directly toward the final solution without the evaluation of a large number of competing phylogenies. However, they can achieve high accuracy only on some specific datasets. Other statistical methods such as bootstrapping <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B11">11</abbr></abbrgrp> are incorporated to assess the confidence of a found phylogeny, which requires extra computational time but may generate better phylogenies. These statistical methods have their limitations and may fail in some situations <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B12">12</abbr></abbrgrp>.</p>
         <p>The second category of methods first define a score for each given quartet topology and then use combinatorial algorithms to find a phylogeny that achieves the optimal score. For example, the Maximum Quartet Consistency (MQC) problem <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B13">13</abbr></abbrgrp>, which is NP-hard, aims to compute a phylogeny which respects as many quartet topologies as possible. Several attempts have been made to solve MQC optimally <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B5">5</abbr><abbr bid="B14">14</abbr><abbr bid="B15">15</abbr></abbrgrp> or approximately <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B16">16</abbr><abbr bid="B17">17</abbr></abbrgrp>. The <it>hypercleaning </it>algorithm proposed in <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B18">18</abbr></abbrgrp> aims to reconstruct a phylogeny that minimizes a certain quartet distance value for measuring the quartet errors. The complexity of the hypercleaning algorithm is <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>5 </sup><it>f</it>(2<it>m</it>) + <it>n</it><sup>7 </sup><it>f</it>(<it>m</it>)), where <it>f</it>(<it>m</it>) = 4<it>m</it><sup>2</sup>(1 + 2<it>m</it>)<sup>4<it>m</it></sup>, <it>n </it>is the number of taxa, and <it>m </it>is a value based on the quartet distance model. These methods tend to be much slower than those in the first category but have higher accuracy. For datasets with a relatively large number of quartet errors, the optimal phylogenies produced by these methods may not be unique, and one must provide additional measurements to estimate the "true" phylogeny.</p>
         <p>Traditionally, the performance accuracy of a phylogeny reconstruction method is measured by simulations on synthetic datasets with a known "true" phylogeny, while little theoretical analysis has been done. In this paper, we propose a new model-based approach to measuring the accuracy of a quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction method, <it>i.e</it>., to analyze the probability of reconstructing the "true" phylogeny.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
         <st>
            <p>Methods</p>
         </st>
         <p>We define our data model and describe our three phylogeny reconstruction algorithms in this section.</p>
         <sec>
            <st>
               <p>Probabilistic model of quartet generation</p>
            </st>
            <p>In this section, we define a probabilistic model for the quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction and introduce some terminologies that will be used in the discussion of three new algorithms.</p>
            <p>Given a quartet topology set <it>Q </it>on a taxon set <it>S </it>= {<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>,...,<it>s</it><sub><it>n</it></sub>}, <it>Q </it>is <it>complete </it>if <it>Q </it>contains exactly one quartet topology for every quartet of <it>S</it>. In this paper, we assume <it>Q </it>is complete. Given a phylogeny <it>T </it>on a taxon set <it>S </it>= {<it>s</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>s</it><sub>2</sub>,...,<it>s</it><sub><it>n</it></sub>}, <it>n </it>is the <it>size </it>of <it>T</it>, and we use <it>Q</it><sub><it>T </it></sub>to denote the complete quartet topology set induced by <it>T</it>. Given <it>T</it><sub>true</sub>, our simulation model first generates a complete quartet topology set <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i3" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mrow><m:mtext>true</m:mtext></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiabdsfaunaaBaaameaacqqG0baDcqqGYbGCcqqG1bqDcqqGLbqzaeqaaaWcbeaaaaa@342F@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> for <it>T</it><sub>true</sub>. For every quartet topology in <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i3" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mrow><m:mtext>true</m:mtext></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiabdsfaunaaBaaameaacqqG0baDcqqGYbGCcqqG1bqDcqqGLbqzaeqaaaWcbeaaaaa@342F@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, with probability 1 - <it>p </it>(0 &#8804; <it>p </it>&#8804; 1) our simulation model does not do anything to it, and with probability <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i4" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGWbaCaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaaa@2ECC@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> changes its topology into each of the other two topologies. In this way, the model generates the input quartet topology set <it>Q</it>, and consequently every quartet topology in the generated set <it>Q </it>has the same probability <it>p </it>of being a quartet error. This probability <it>p </it>is called the <it>quartet error probability </it>associated with the instance. Under this model, our main computational objective is to reconstruct <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>from <it>Q </it>with a high success probability while minimizing the time complexity.</p>
            <p>In practice, the quartet error probability <it>p </it>mainly depends on the quality of the quartet inference methods, such as the Four-point method <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B9">9</abbr></abbrgrp>, the Neighbor Joining method <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B6">6</abbr></abbrgrp>, and the Ordinal Quartet method <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B7">7</abbr></abbrgrp>. Simulation results in <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B7">7</abbr></abbrgrp> show that the Ordinal Quartet method can achieve over 80% accuracy while inferring quartet topologies. Therefore, in our model we assume that current quartet inference methods can infer more correct quartet topologies than erroneous ones. In particular, we assume the quartet error probability 0 &#8804; <it>p </it>&lt;<inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i5" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@2E55@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>. As this paper focuses on phylogeny reconstruction, we also assume that the time complexity of inferring one quartet topology is <it>O</it>(1).</p>
         </sec>
         <sec>
            <st>
               <p>An <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>2</sup>)-time algorithm for reconstructing <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>when <it>p </it>= 0</p>
            </st>
            <p>In this section, we assume that no quartet errors exist in <it>Q</it>. Our algorithm is based on the following classic result by Jordan <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B19">19</abbr></abbrgrp>.</p>
            <p><b>Lemma 1 (see </b><abbrgrp><abbr bid="B19">19</abbr></abbrgrp><b>) </b><it>Given a tree T with n leaves, there exists an internal node whose removal partitions the tree into connected components, each with at most </it><inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i6" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGUbGBaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaaa@2EC8@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula><it>leaves, and such a node can be found in linear time</it>.</p>
            <p>Given an unrooted binary phylogeny <it>T</it>, if we remove an internal node <it>v </it>from <it>T</it>, <it>T </it>will be divided into three sub-phylogenies. We denote these three sub-phylogenies as <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>}. Based on Lemma 1, there exists an internal node <it>v </it>in <it>T </it>such that each of the trees in <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>} has at most <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i6" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGUbGBaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaaa@2EC8@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> leaves. An internal node <it>v </it>of <it>T </it>having such a property is called a <it>separator </it>of <it>T</it>. Notice that a phylogeny <it>T </it>may have more than one separator, but our algorithms in Tables <tblr tid="T1">1</tblr>, <tblr tid="T2">2</tblr>, and <tblr tid="T3">3</tblr> need only one of them. Given a phylogeny <it>T </it>and a separator <it>v </it>of <it>T</it>, we can merge two sub-phylogenies of <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>} into one leaf node (replacing the separator <it>v</it>), which is treated as a <it>super taxon </it>to represent the union of the taxon sets of the two merged sub-phylogenies.</p>
            <tbl id="T1">
               <title>
                  <p>Table 1</p>
               </title>
               <caption>
                  <p/>
               </caption>
               <tblbdy cols="2">
                  <r>
                     <c cspan="2" ca="left">
                        <p>Q-RAND(<it>S</it>, <it>Q</it>):</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a quartet topology in <it>Q </it>as the initial phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Delete the four taxa of <it>T </it>from the taxon set <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>4.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Locate a separator <it>v </it>of <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>5.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a taxon from each sub-phylogeny of <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>}, say <it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, and <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>6.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Decide which sub-phylogeny of <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>} taxon <it>s </it>should be inserted into based on the quartet topology for {<it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>, <it>s</it>};</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If the located sub-phylogeny has only one edge,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Insert <it>s </it>on that edge and let the new phylogeny be <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Merge the other two sub-phylogenies as a super taxon (which replaces <it>v</it>);</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Let the located sub-phylogeny with the super taxon be the new current phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 4;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>9.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Delete taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If <it>S </it>is not empty,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 3;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>11.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>11.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Output the phylogeny <it>T</it>.</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
               </tblbdy>
            </tbl>
            <tbl id="T2">
               <title>
                  <p>Table 2</p>
               </title>
               <caption>
                  <p/>
               </caption>
               <tblbdy cols="2">
                  <r>
                     <c cspan="2" ca="left">
                        <p>Q-VOTE(<it>S</it>, <it>Q</it>, <it>p</it>):</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a quartet topology in <it>Q </it>as the initial phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Delete the four taxa of <it>T </it>from the taxon set <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>4.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Locate a separator <it>v </it>of <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>5.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Decide which sub-phylogeny of <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>} taxon <it>s </it>should be inserted into based on the votes;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>6.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If the located sub-phylogeny has only one edge,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>6.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Insert taxon <it>s </it>on that edge and let the new phylogeny be <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Merge the other two sub-phylogenies as a super taxon (which replaces <it>v</it>);</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Let the located sub-phylogeny with the super taxon be the new current phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 4;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Delete taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>9.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If <it>S </it>is not empty,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>9.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 3;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Output the phylogeny <it>T</it>.</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
               </tblbdy>
            </tbl>
            <tbl id="T3">
               <title>
                  <p>Table 3</p>
               </title>
               <caption>
                  <p/>
               </caption>
               <tblbdy cols="2">
                  <r>
                     <c cspan="2" ca="left">
                        <p>M-VOTE(<it>S</it>, <it>Q</it>, <it>p</it>):</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Search for a 5-subset compatible with <it>Q</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If successful</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>2.1</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Let the corresponding phylogeny be the current phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>2.2</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Delete the 5 taxa of <it>T </it>from the taxon set <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>3.1</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a quartet topology in <it>Q </it>as the current phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>3.2</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Delete the four taxa of <it>T </it>from the taxon set <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>4.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Randomly select a taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>5.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Locate a separator <it>v </it>of <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>6.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Decide which sub-phylogeny of <it>T </it>- {<it>v</it>} taxon <it>s </it>should be inserted into based on the votes;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If the located sub-phylogeny has only one edge,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>7.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Insert taxon <it>s </it>on that edge and let the new phylogeny be <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Merge the other two sub-phylogenies as a super taxon (which replaces <it>v</it>);</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.2.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Let the located sub-phylogeny with the super taxon be the new current phylogeny <it>T</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>8.3.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 5;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>9.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Delete taxon <it>s </it>from <it>S</it>;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>If <it>S </it>is not empty,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>10.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Go back to Step 4;</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>11.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>Else,</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
                  <r>
                     <c ca="left">
                        <p>11.1.</p>
                     </c>
                     <c indent="1" ca="left">
                        <p>Output the phylogeny <it>T</it>.</p>
                     </c>
                  </r>
               </tblbdy>
            </tbl>
            <p>Given a quartet topology set <it>Q </it>with no quartet errors, we can start with a randomly selected quartet topology <it>q</it>, which forms an initial phylogeny <it>T</it><sub>4 </sub>on 4 taxa, and then iteratively insert a new taxon to grow the phylogeny. To ensure that the true phylogeny on the whole taxon set is recovered, in the <it>i</it>-th iteration to insert taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>, we first locate a separator, <it>v</it>, of phylogeny <it>T</it><sub><it>i</it>+3</sub>. Then, we randomly select a taxon from each of the three sub-phylogenies of <it>T</it><sub><it>i</it>+3 </sub>- {<it>v</it>}. Suppose that these three selected taxa are <it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, and <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>. We proceed to check the given topology in <it>Q </it>on quartet {<it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>}. Based on that topology, we can determine which sub-phylogeny taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4 </sub>should be inserted into. For example, if the topology is [<it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>|<it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>], then <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4 </sub>should be inserted into the sub-phylogeny that contains <it>s<sub>c</sub></it>as its leaf. Recursively, we treat the other two sub-phylogenies as a super taxon (which replaces the separator <it>v</it>) on the located sub-phylogeny to generate a new phylogeny, and to determine the location in this new phylogeny where taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4 </sub>should be inserted. A high-level description of this algorithm Q-RAND is summarized in Table <tblr tid="T1">1</tblr>.</p>
            <p><b>Theorem 2 </b><it>Given a quartet topology set Q with no quartet errors, T</it><sub>true </sub><it>can be constructed in O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>2</sup>) <it>time by querying at most </it>(<it>n </it>- 4) log(<it>n </it>- 1) <it>quartet topologies in Q</it>.</p>
            <p>PROOF. The Q-RAND algorithm described above and detailed in Table <tblr tid="T1">1</tblr> can be employed to construct the true phylogeny, where one can easily see that the final phylogeny obtained after inserting all the taxa satisfies all the quartet topologies in <it>Q</it>, and therefore it is <it>T</it><sub>true</sub>.</p>
            <p>In the <it>i</it>-th iteration, Q-RAND needs to query at most log(<it>i </it>+ 3) quartet topologies. Therefore, the total number of quartet topologies need to be queried is at most log 4 + log 5 + &#8943; + log(<it>n </it>- 1) &#8804; (<it>n </it>- 4) log(<it>n </it>- 1). As we only need <it>O</it>(1) time to infer each queried quartet topology, the time complexity of querying these quartet topologies is <it>O</it>(<it>n </it>log <it>n</it>).</p>
            <p>Based on Lemma 1, finding a separator of phylogeny <it>T</it><sub><it>i </it></sub>takes <it>O</it>(<it>i</it>) time. Thus the time of finding the separators during the <it>i</it>-th iteration is <it>O</it>(<it>i </it>+ <it>i</it>/2 + &#8943; + 1) = <it>O</it>(<it>i</it>). The overall time of Q-RAND is therefore <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>2</sup>).&#160;&#160;&#160;&#9633;</p>
            <p>An <it>experiment </it>is a rooted phylogeny on three taxa. There has been extensive work on reconstructing phylogenies from a set of experiments with no errors. In general, there is a trade-off between the number of queried experiments and the running time. Kannan <it>et al</it>. <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B20">20</abbr></abbrgrp> gave an &#937;(<it>n </it>log <it>n</it>) lower bound of queried experiments for reconstructing rooted binary phylogenies in <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>2</sup>) time. Kao <it>et al</it>. <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B21">21</abbr></abbrgrp> presented a randomized algorithm with running time <it>O</it>(<it>n </it>log <it>n </it>log log <it>n</it>) using <it>O</it>(<it>n </it>log <it>n </it>log log <it>n</it>) experiments. The fastest algorithm <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B22">22</abbr></abbrgrp> so far is a deterministic algorithm which can reconstruct the true phylogeny in <it>O</it>(<it>n </it>log <it>n</it>) time by querying at most <it>n</it>(log <it>n </it>+ <it>O</it>(1)) experiments. Although these algorithms and complexity results are for reconstructing phylogenies from experiments, they also apply to quartet-based phylogeny reconstruction through straightforward transformation. Therefore, algorithm Q-RAND achieves the lower bound of queried quartet topologies for phylogeny reconstruction from a given quartet topology set without errors. Q-RAND will be the base structure of our algorithms for the case with quartet errors.</p>
         </sec>
         <sec>
            <st>
               <p>Reconstructing <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>with a high success probability when 0 &lt;<it>p </it>&lt;<inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i5" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@2E55@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula></p>
            </st>
            <p>If the input quartet topology set <it>Q </it>contains quartet errors, then algorithm Q-RAND may make a wrong decision while locating the sub-phylogeny where taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i </it></sub>should be inserted. In this section, we address this issue by adding a voting scheme to algorithm Q-RAND to aggregate the information in the correct quartet topologies. The key observation is that, when <it>p </it>is small, in order to incorrectly identify the location for a new taxon, there must exist many quartet errors among the queried quartet topologies that all support the decision, which however is unlikely.</p>
            <p>The new algorithm is called Q-VOTE, which also starts with an randomly picked quartet topology. In the <it>i</it>-th iteration to insert taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>, the algorithm first locates a separator, <it>v</it>, of phylogeny <it>T</it><sub><it>i</it>+3</sub>. It then queries all the possible quartet topologies on {<it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>}, where <it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>, and <it>s</it><sub><it>c </it></sub>come from the taxon sets of the three sub-phylogenies of <it>T</it><sub><it>i</it>+3 </sub>- {<it>v</it>}, respectively. If a sub-phylogeny contains a super taxon, which is formed by merging two sub-phylogenies in a previous step, all the taxa represented by that super taxon are also taken into consideration. Suppose that the taxon sets of the three sub-phylogenies have sizes <it>m</it><sub>1</sub>, <it>m</it><sub>2</sub>, and <it>m</it><sub>3</sub>, respectively. Then there are <it>m</it><sub>1 </sub>&#215; <it>m</it><sub>2 </sub>&#215; <it> m</it><sub>3 </sub>quartet topologies that we need to consider. Each quartet topology gives a <it>vote </it>for a sub-phylogeny into which taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4 </sub>should be inserted. For example, the quartet topology [<it>s</it><sub><it>a</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>b</it></sub>|<it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>, <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>] gives a vote on the sub-phylogeny whose taxon set includes <it>s</it><sub><it>c</it></sub>. The algorithm then chooses the sub-phylogeny that has the maximum votes and recursively calls the above procedure until the location of taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4 </sub>is determined. We call each recursive step described above a <it>decision </it>to locate taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>. In each decision, the algorithm needs to query <it>O</it>(<it>i</it><sup>3</sup>) quartet topologies, and log <it>i </it>decisions are needed to determine the final location of taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>i</it>+4</sub>. Therefore, the overall running time of algorithm Q-VOTE is <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>4 </sup>log <it>n</it>). A high-level description of algorithm Q-VOTE is summarized in Table <tblr tid="T2">2</tblr>.</p>
            <p><b>Theorem 3 </b><it>When </it>0 &lt;<it>p </it>&lt;<inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i5" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@2E55@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, <it>algorithm Q-VOTE can reconstruct T</it><sub>true </sub><it>in O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>4 </sup>log <it>n</it>) <it>time with a probability at least </it><inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i7" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo><m:mstyle displaystyle="true"><m:msubsup><m:mo>&#8719;</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>1</m:mn></m:mrow></m:msubsup><m:mrow><m:msup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>[</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mstyle displaystyle="true"><m:msubsup><m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mi>k</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow></m:msubsup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mtable><m:mtr><m:mtd><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow></m:mtd></m:mtr><m:mtr><m:mtd><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:mtd></m:mtr></m:mtable></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:msup></m:mrow></m:mstyle><m:msup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:mrow></m:msup></m:mrow><m:mo>]</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>log</m:mi><m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo><m:mi>j</m:mi></m:mrow></m:msup></m:mrow></m:mstyle></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=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@62F0@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, <it>where n is the size of the input taxon set and p is the quartet error probability of the input quartet topology set</it>.</p>
            <p>PROOF. Suppose that the algorithm queries <it>N </it>quartet topologies when it makes one decision of locating taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>j</it>+1 </sub>on a phylogeny <it>T</it><sub><it>j </it></sub>with <it>j </it>taxa. It is easy to see that <it>N </it>&#8805; <it>j </it>- 2. The algorithm makes a wrong decision only if the number of quartet errors among these queried quartet topologies is at least <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i8" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mi>N</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGobGtaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaaa@2E88@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>. (Note that, however, the existence of at least <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i8" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mi>N</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGobGtaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaaa@2E88@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> quartet errors does not necessarily imply the misplacement of taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>j</it>+1</sub>.) We know that each quartet topology has a probability <it>p </it>to be a quartet error. Therefore, the number of quartet errors follows a binomial distribution, and the probability that the algorithm makes a wrong decision is at most</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
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                              <m:munderover>
                                 <m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo>
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                                    <m:mi>k</m:mi>
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                                       <m:mi>N</m:mi>
                                       <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                    </m:mfrac>
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                                 <m:mi>N</m:mi>
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                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mtable>
                                          <m:mtr>
                                             <m:mtd>
                                                <m:mi>N</m:mi>
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                                          </m:mtr>
                                          <m:mtr>
                                             <m:mtd>
                                                <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                             </m:mtd>
                                          </m:mtr>
                                       </m:mtable>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                 </m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mstyle>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
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                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mi>N</m:mi>
                                 <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mo>&#8804;</m:mo>
                           <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                              <m:munderover>
                                 <m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>=</m:mo>
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                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                          <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                          <m:mn>2</m:mn>
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                                       <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                    </m:mfrac>
                                 </m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>2</m:mn>
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                              </m:munderover>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
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                                          <m:mtr>
                                             <m:mtd>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                   <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                   <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                             </m:mtd>
                                          </m:mtr>
                                          <m:mtr>
                                             <m:mtd>
                                                <m:mi>k</m:mi>
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                                          </m:mtr>
                                       </m:mtable>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
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                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    <m:mi>k</m:mi>
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                           </m:mstyle>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
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                                       <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                 </m:mrow>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                 <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                 <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mo>,</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xI8qiVKYPFjYdHaVhbbf9v8qqaqFr0xc9vqFj0dXdbba91qpepeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaabCaeaadaqadaqaauaabeqaceaaaeaacqWGobGtaeaacqWGRbWAaaaacaGLOaGaayzkaaGaemiCaa3aaWbaaSqabeaacqWGRbWAaaaabaGaem4AaSMaeyypa0tcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGobGtaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaleaacqWGobGta0GaeyyeIuoakmaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaWaaWbaaSqabeaacqWGobGtcqGHsislcqWGRbWAaaGccqGHKjYOdaaeWbqaamaabmaabaqbaeqabiqaaaqaaiabdQgaQjabgkHiTiabikdaYaqaaiabdUgaRbaaaiaawIcacaGLPaaacqWGWbaCdaahaaWcbeqaaiabdUgaRbaaaeaacqWGRbWAcqGH9aqpjuaGdaWcaaqaaiabdQgaQjabgkHiTiabikdaYaqaaiabikdaYaaaaSqaaiabdQgaQjabgkHiTiabikdaYaqdcqGHris5aOWaaeWaaeaacqaIXaqmcqGHsislcqWGWbaCaiaawIcacaGLPaaadaahaaWcbeqaaiabdQgaQjabgkHiTiabikdaYiabgkHiTiabdUgaRbaakiabcYcaSaaa@6734@</m:annotation>
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            <p>(The detailed proof of this inequality is provided in Appendix A.)</p>
            <p>Since the algorithm makes log <it>j </it>decisions to locate the final position of taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>j</it>+1</sub>, the probability that the algorithm locates the correct position for taxon <it>s</it><sub><it>j</it>+1 </sub>is at least</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
                  <m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i10" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
                     <m:semantics>
                        <m:mrow>
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                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>[</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                                          <m:munderover>
                                             <m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mrow>
                                                <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                                                <m:mfrac>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                      <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mn>2</m:mn>
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                                                   <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                </m:mfrac>
                                             </m:mrow>
                                             <m:mrow>
                                                <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                             </m:mrow>
                                          </m:munderover>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mrow>
                                                <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mtable>
                                                      <m:mtr>
                                                         <m:mtd>
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                                                               <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                               <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
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                                                      <m:mtr>
                                                         <m:mtd>
                                                            <m:mi>k</m:mi>
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                                                </m:mrow>
                                                <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                             </m:mrow>
                                             <m:msup>
                                                <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                                <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                             </m:msup>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                       </m:mstyle>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mrow>
                                                <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                                   <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                   <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                                <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                             </m:mrow>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mi>k</m:mi>
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                                       </m:msup>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>]</m:mo>
                                 </m:mrow>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mi>log</m:mi>
                                 <m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mo>.</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
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            </p>
            <p>Therefore, the algorithm can construct <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>with a probability at least</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
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                              <m:mo>(</m:mo>
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                                 <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                 <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mi>p</m:mi>
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                              <m:mo>)</m:mo>
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                           <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
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                                 <m:mo>&#8719;</m:mo>
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                                    <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>4</m:mn>
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                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>n</m:mi>
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                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
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                              </m:munderover>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
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                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>[</m:mo>
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                                             <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                                                <m:munderover>
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                                                   <m:mrow>
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                                                      <m:mfrac>
                                                         <m:mrow>
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                                                            <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                         </m:mrow>
                                                         <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                      </m:mfrac>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
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                                                      <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                </m:munderover>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mrow>
                                                         <m:mtable>
                                                            <m:mtr>
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                                                                  <m:mrow>
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                                                                     <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                                  </m:mrow>
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                                                            </m:mtr>
                                                            <m:mtr>
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                                                               </m:mtd>
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                                                         </m:mtable>
                                                      </m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                   <m:msup>
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                                                      <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                   </m:msup>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                             </m:mstyle>
                                             <m:msup>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mrow>
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                                                         <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                                      </m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mi>j</m:mi>
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                                                   <m:mn>2</m:mn>
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                                                </m:mrow>
                                             </m:msup>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>]</m:mo>
                                       </m:mrow>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mi>log</m:mi>
                                       <m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mstyle>
                           <m:mo>.</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xI8qiVKYPFjYdHaVhbbf9v8qqaqFr0xc9vqFj0dXdbba91qpepeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=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@6483@</m:annotation>
                     </m:semantics>
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               </display-formula>
            </p>
            <p>The first term, 1 - <it>p</it>, is the probability that the algorithm chooses a correct starting quartet topology.</p>
         </sec>
         <sec>
            <st>
               <p>Improvements</p>
            </st>
            <p>We can see that the maximum probability of algorithm Q-VOTE to make a wrong decision, <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i12" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mstyle displaystyle="true"><m:msubsup><m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mi>k</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow></m:msubsup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mtable><m:mtr><m:mtd><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mrow></m:mtd></m:mtr><m:mtr><m:mtd><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:mtd></m:mtr></m:mtable></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:msup></m:mrow></m:mstyle><m:msup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>j</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>2</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>k</m:mi></m:mrow></m:msup></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaabmaeaadaqadaqaauaabeqaceaaaeaacqWGQbGAcqGHsislcqaIYaGmaeaacqWGRbWAaaaacaGLOaGaayzkaaGaemiCaa3aaWbaaSqabeaacqWGRbWAaaaabaGaem4AaSMaeyypa0tcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGQbGAcqGHsislcqaIYaGmaeaacqaIYaGmaaaaleaacqWGQbGAcqGHsislcqaIYaGma0GaeyyeIuoakmaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaWaaWbaaSqabeaacqWGQbGAcqGHsislcqaIYaGmcqGHsislcqWGRbWAaaaaaa@4BF6@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, is close to 0, when <it>j </it>is relatively large. Therefore, the probability that the algorithm can reconstruct <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>mainly depends on the correctness of the phylogeny with the first several inserted taxa. Based on this observation, we propose the following improvement to algorithm Q-VOTE to look for a good starting phylogeny that contains <it>m </it>taxa for <it>m </it>&#8805; 4.</p>
            <p>Given a taxon set <it>S</it>, each subset of <it>m </it>(<it>m </it>&#8805; 4) taxa of <it>S </it>is called an <it>m-subset </it>of <it>S</it>. A quartet topology is <it>associated </it>with an <it>m</it>-subset if the four taxa of the quartet topology are all in the <it>m</it>-subset. An <it>m</it>-subset is <it>compatible </it>with <it>Q </it>if the set of its associated quartet topologies in <it>Q </it>is compatible. It is easy to see that a compatible <it>m</it>-subset has exactly one topology, which can be constructed from its associated quartet topologies in <it>Q</it>.</p>
            <p>In the following, we only consider <it>m </it>= 5, while our conclusion can be generalized to larger <it>m </it>with increased running time. The new algorithm, called M-VOTE, first goes through all the possible 5-subsets to find a compatible 5-subset. If successful, M-VOTE starts with the phylogeny on the compatible 5-subset and proceeds as Q-VOTE to insert all the other taxa into the phylogeny one by one. If unsuccessful, M-VOTE starts with a randomly selected quartet topology, and it reduces to Q-VOTE. A high-level description of algorithm M-VOTE is summarized in Table <tblr tid="T3">3</tblr>.</p>
            <p><b>Theorem 4 </b><it>When </it>0 &lt;<it>p </it>&lt;<inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i5" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@2E55@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula><it>and Step 1 of algorithm M-VOTE is successful, then the algorithm can reconstruct T</it><sub>true </sub><it>in O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>5</sup>) <it>time with a probability at least</it></p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
                  <m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i13" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
                     <m:semantics>
                        <m:mrow>
                           <m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>[</m:mo>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:mfrac>
                                          <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                          <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                       </m:mfrac>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>4</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:mfrac>
                                          <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>16</m:mn>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                       </m:mfrac>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>]</m:mo>
                           </m:mrow>
                           <m:mo>&#8901;</m:mo>
                           <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                              <m:munderover>
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                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>n</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                 </m:mrow>
                              </m:munderover>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
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                                                         </m:mrow>
                                                         <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                      </m:mfrac>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
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                                                      <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                </m:munderover>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mrow>
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                                                   </m:mrow>
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                                                      </m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                                <m:mrow>
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                                                   <m:mn>2</m:mn>
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                                                   <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                             </m:msup>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>]</m:mo>
                                       </m:mrow>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mi>log</m:mi>
                                       <m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mstyle>
                           <m:mo>,</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xI8qiVKYPFjYdHaVhbbf9v8qqaqFr0xc9vqFj0dXdbba91qpepeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=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@757F@</m:annotation>
                     </m:semantics>
                  </m:math>
               </display-formula>
            </p>
            <p><it>where n is the size of the input taxon set</it>, <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i14" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaemyCaeNaeyypa0tcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGWbaCaeaacqaIXaqmcqGHsislcqWGWbaCaaaaaa@3391@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, <it>and p is the quartet error probability of the input quartet topology set</it>.</p>
            <p>PROOF. Finding a compatible 5-subset needs <it>O</it>(<it>n</it><sup>5</sup>) time. In each iteration of inserting a taxon into the current phylogeny, the algorithm goes through all the remaining taxa to make a selection. Therefore the overall running time of the algorithm is <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i15" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mi>O</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo><m:msup><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:mstyle displaystyle="true"><m:msubsup><m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mi>i</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mn>1</m:mn></m:mrow></m:msubsup><m:mrow><m:msup><m:mi>i</m:mi><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>i</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo><m:mi>log</m:mi><m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo><m:mi>i</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mstyle><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mi>O</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo><m:msup><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo>+</m:mo><m:msup><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:msup><m:mi>log</m:mi><m:mo>&#8289;</m:mo><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mi>O</m:mi><m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo><m:msup><m:mi>n</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msup><m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaem4ta8KaeiikaGIaemOBa42aaWbaaSqabeaacqaIYaGmaaGccqGHRaWkdaaeWaqaaiabdMgaPnaaCaaaleqabaGaeG4mamdaaOGaeiikaGIaemOBa4MaeyOeI0IaemyAaKMaeiykaKIagiiBaWMaei4Ba8Maei4zaCMaemyAaKMaeiykaKcaleaacqWGPbqAcqGH9aqpcqaI1aqnaeaacqWGUbGBcqGHsislcqaIXaqma0GaeyyeIuoakiabg2da9iabd+eapjabcIcaOiabd6gaUnaaCaaaleqabaGaeGynaudaaOGaey4kaSIaemOBa42aaWbaaSqabeaacqaI0aanaaGccyGGSbaBcqGGVbWBcqGGNbWzcqWGUbGBcqGGPaqkcqGH9aqpcqWGpbWtcqGGOaakcqWGUbGBdaahaaWcbeqaaiabikdaYaaakiabcMcaPaaa@5DF8@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>.</p>
            <p>Suppose that in Step 1 the phylogeny constructed from the compatible 5-subset is <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>and the true phylogeny of this 5-subset is <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i16" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGafmivaqLbauaadaWgaaWcbaGaeGynaudabeaaaaa@2E34@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>. Note that there are 15 possible phylogenies on this 5-subset, including <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i16" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGafmivaqLbauaadaWgaaWcbaGaeGynaudabeaaaaa@2E34@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> itself. If <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>&#8800; <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i16" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGafmivaqLbauaadaWgaaWcbaGaeGynaudabeaaaaa@2E34@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>, then it is easy to see that <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 2, 4, or 5.</p>
            <p>Under the assumption that every quartet topology has probability <it>p </it>to be erroneous, we show in the following that <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> has different probabilities to be 0, 2, 4, and 5 (but no probability to be 1 or 3).</p>
            <p>First of all, clearly, <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 0 as probability (1 - <it>p</it>)<sup>5</sup>, since every one of the 5 quartet topologies has to be correct. For each phylogeny <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>such that <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 2, <it>i.e</it>., there are two quartet errors, we conclude that these two quartet errors must contain a common subset of three taxa out of the five, and the induced sub-phylogeny of <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i16" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGafmivaqLbauaadaWgaaWcbaGaeGynaudabeaaaaa@2E34@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> on these three taxa should not contain any other taxon from the five. Since the probability to observe <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>is <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i18" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:msup><m:msup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:msup></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaI0aanaaGccqWGWbaCdaahaaWcbeqaaiabikdaYaaakmaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaWaaWbaaSqabeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@36E3@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> and there are exactly four possible topologies for <it>T</it><sub>5</sub>, <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 2 has probability 4 &#215; <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i18" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:msup><m:msup><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:msup></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaI0aanaaGccqWGWbaCdaahaaWcbeqaaiabikdaYaaakmaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaWaaWbaaSqabeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@36E3@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>. A similar analysis shows that there are eight possible <it>T</it><sub>5</sub>'s such that <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 4, and <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 4 has probability <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i19" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mn>8</m:mn><m:mo>&#215;</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mrow><m:mn>16</m:mn></m:mrow></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mn>4</m:mn></m:msup><m:mrow><m:mo>(</m:mo><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow><m:mo>)</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfaOaeGioaGJaey41aq7aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIXaqmcqaI2aGnaaGccqWGWbaCdaahaaWcbeqaaiabisda0aaakmaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaaaaa@39CF@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>; there are two possible <it>T</it><sub>5</sub>'s such that <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 5, and <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i17" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:msub><m:mi>Q</m:mi><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow></m:msub></m:mrow><m:mo>|</m:mo></m:mrow></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaWaaqWaaeaacqWGrbqudaWgaaWcbaGaemivaq1aaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaOGaeyOeI0Iaemyuae1aaSbaaSqaaiqbdsfauzaafaWaaSbaaWqaaiabiwda1aqabaaaleqaaaGccaGLhWUaayjcSdaaaa@3772@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> = 5 has probability <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i20" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mn>2</m:mn><m:mo>&#215;</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mrow><m:mn>32</m:mn></m:mrow></m:mfrac><m:msup><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msup></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfaOaeGOmaiJaey41aq7aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmcqaIYaGmaaGccqWGWbaCdaahaaWcbeqaaiabiwda1aaaaaa@34E8@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>.</p>
            <p>To summarize, the probability of observing incorrect phylogenies on this 5-subset is</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
                  <m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i21" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
                     <m:semantics>
                        <m:mrow>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                              <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                 </m:mrow>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mn>3</m:mn>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                           <m:mfrac>
                              <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                              <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                           </m:mfrac>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                              <m:mn>4</m:mn>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                 <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                           </m:mrow>
                           <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                           <m:mfrac>
                              <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mn>16</m:mn>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mfrac>
                           <m:msup>
                              <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                              <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                           </m:msup>
                           <m:mo>,</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xI8qiVKYPFjYdHaVhbbf9v8qqaqFr0xc9vqFj0dXdbba91qpepeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfaOaemiCaa3aaWbaaeqabaGaeGOmaidaamaabmaabaGaeGymaeJaeyOeI0IaemiCaahacaGLOaGaayzkaaWaaWbaaeqabaGaeG4mamdaaiabgUcaRmaalaaabaGaeGymaedabaGaeGOmaidaaOGaemiCaa3aaWbaaSqabeaacqaI0aanaaGcdaqadaqaaiabigdaXiabgkHiTiabdchaWbGaayjkaiaawMcaaiabgUcaRKqbaoaalaaabaGaeGymaedabaGaeGymaeJaeGOnaydaaOGaemiCaa3aaWbaaSqabeaacqaI1aqnaaGccqGGSaalaaa@4730@</m:annotation>
                     </m:semantics>
                  </m:math>
               </display-formula>
            </p>
            <p>and thus the probability of obtaining a phylogeny <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>and <it>T</it><sub>5 </sub>= <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i16" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:msub><m:msup><m:mi>T</m:mi><m:mo>&#8242;</m:mo></m:msup><m:mn>5</m:mn></m:msub></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGafmivaqLbauaadaWgaaWcbaGaeGynaudabeaaaaa@2E34@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> is</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
                  <m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i22" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
                     <m:semantics>
                        <m:mrow>
                           <m:mfrac>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                       </m:mrow>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                       </m:mrow>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                       </m:mrow>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mn>3</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>4</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                       <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                    <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                 </m:mrow>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>16</m:mn>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mfrac>
                           <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                           <m:mfrac>
                              <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>4</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                                 <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>16</m:mn>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:msup>
                              </m:mrow>
                           </m:mfrac>
                           <m:mo>,</m:mo>
                        </m:mrow>
                        <m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xI8qiVKYPFjYdHaVhbbf9v8qqaqFr0xc9vqFj0dXdbba91qpepeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=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@6527@</m:annotation>
                     </m:semantics>
                  </m:math>
               </display-formula>
            </p>
            <p>where <inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i23" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mi>q</m:mi><m:mo>=</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mi>p</m:mi><m:mrow><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo><m:mi>p</m:mi></m:mrow></m:mfrac><m:mo>&lt;</m:mo><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>2</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaGaemyCaeNaeyypa0tcfa4aaSaaaeaacqWGWbaCaeaacqaIXaqmcqGHsislcqWGWbaCaaGccqGH8aapjuaGdaWcaaqaaiabigdaXaqaaiabikdaYaaaaaa@371F@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula> (and the success probability is greater than 0.779) when 0 &lt;<it>p </it>&lt;<inline-formula><m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i5" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><m:semantics><m:mrow><m:mfrac><m:mn>1</m:mn><m:mn>3</m:mn></m:mfrac></m:mrow><m:annotation encoding="MathType-MTEF">
 MathType@MTEF@5@5@+=feaagaart1ev2aaatCvAUfKttLearuWrP9MDH5MBPbIqV92AaeXatLxBI9gBaebbnrfifHhDYfgasaacPC6xNi=xH8viVGI8Gi=hEeeu0xXdbba9frFj0xb9qqpG0dXdb9aspeI8k8fiI+fsY=rqGqVepae9pg0db9vqaiVgFr0xfr=xfr=xc9adbaqaaeGacaGaaiaabeqaaeqabiWaaaGcbaqcfa4aaSaaaeaacqaIXaqmaeaacqaIZaWmaaaaaa@2E55@</m:annotation></m:semantics></m:math></inline-formula>. After the 5-subset is identified, M-VOTE proceeds as Q-VOTE and therefore it can construct <it>T</it><sub>true </sub>with a probability at least</p>
            <p>
               <display-formula>
                  <m:math name="1748-7188-3-1-i24" xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
                     <m:semantics>
                        <m:mrow>
                           <m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>[</m:mo>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:mfrac>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:mfrac>
                                          <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                          <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                       </m:mfrac>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>4</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                       <m:mo>+</m:mo>
                                       <m:mfrac>
                                          <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>16</m:mn>
                                          </m:mrow>
                                       </m:mfrac>
                                       <m:msup>
                                          <m:mi>q</m:mi>
                                          <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                       </m:msup>
                                    </m:mrow>
                                 </m:mfrac>
                              </m:mrow>
                              <m:mo>]</m:mo>
                           </m:mrow>
                           <m:mo>&#8901;</m:mo>
                           <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                              <m:munderover>
                                 <m:mo>&#8719;</m:mo>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>5</m:mn>
                                 </m:mrow>
                                 <m:mrow>
                                    <m:mi>n</m:mi>
                                    <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                    <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                 </m:mrow>
                              </m:munderover>
                              <m:mrow>
                                 <m:msup>
                                    <m:mrow>
                                       <m:mrow>
                                          <m:mo>[</m:mo>
                                          <m:mrow>
                                             <m:mn>1</m:mn>
                                             <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                             <m:mstyle displaystyle="true">
                                                <m:munderover>
                                                   <m:mo>&#8721;</m:mo>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                      <m:mo>=</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mfrac>
                                                         <m:mrow>
                                                            <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                            <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                            <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                         </m:mrow>
                                                         <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                      </m:mfrac>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                      <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                </m:munderover>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>(</m:mo>
                                                      <m:mrow>
                                                         <m:mtable>
                                                            <m:mtr>
                                                               <m:mtd>
                                                                  <m:mrow>
                                                                     <m:mi>j</m:mi>
                                                                     <m:mo>&#8722;</m:mo>
                                                                     <m:mn>2</m:mn>
                                                                  </m:mrow>
                                                               </m:mtd>
                                                            </m:mtr>
                                                            <m:mtr>
                                                               <m:mtd>
                                                                  <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                               </m:mtd>
                                                            </m:mtr>
                                                         </m:mtable>
                                                      </m:mrow>
                                                      <m:mo>)</m:mo>
                                                   </m:mrow>
                                                   <m:msup>
                                                      <m:mi>p</m:mi>
                                                      <m:mi>k</m:mi>
                                                   </m:msup>
                                                </m:mrow>
                                             </m:mstyle>
                                             <m:msup>
                                                <m:mrow>
                                                   <m:mrow>
                    