Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 October 1997
Suppose that [Pscr ] is a distribution of N points in the unit square U=[0, 1]2. For every x=(x1, x2)∈U, let B(x)=[0, x1]×[0, x2] denote the aligned rectangle containing all points y=(y1, y2)∈U satisfying 0[les ]y1[les ]x1 and 0[les ]y2[les ]x2. Denote by Z[[Pscr ]; B(x)] the number of points of [Pscr ] that lie in B(x), and consider the discrepancy function
D[[Pscr ]; B(x)]=Z[[Pscr ]; B(x)]−Nμ(B(x)),
where μ denotes the usual area measure.