UNIT-1

Introduction to Design and analysis of algorithms

What is an algorithm?
Algorithm is a set of steps to complete a task.
For example,
Task: to make a cup of
tea. Algorithm:

 add water and milk to the kettle,

 boil it, add tea leaves,
 Add sugar, and then serve it in cup.

What is Computer algorithm?

‘’a set of steps to accomplish or complete a task that is described precisely enough that a
computer can run it’’.

Described precisely: very difficult for a machine to know how much water, milk to be
added etc. in the above tea making algorithm.

These algorithms run on computers or computational devices. For example, GPS in our
smart phones, Google hangouts.

GPS uses shortest path algorithm. Online shopping uses cryptography which uses RSA
algorithm.

Characteristics of an algorithm:-

 Must take an input.

 Must give some output(yes/no,value etc.)
 Definiteness –each instruction is clear and unambiguous.
 Finiteness –algorithm terminates after a finite number of steps.
 Effectiveness –every instruction must be basic i.e. simple instruction.

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Expectation from an algorithm

 Correctness:-
 Correct: Algorithms must produce correct result.
 Produce an incorrect answer:Even if it fails to give correct results all the time still
there is a control on how often it gives wrong result. Eg.Rabin-Miller PrimalityTest
(Used in RSA algorithm): It doesn’t give correct answer all the time.1 out of 250
times it gives incorrect result.
 Approximation algorithm: Exact solution is not found, but near optimal solution
can be found out. (Applied to optimization problem.)
 Less resource usage:
Algorithms should use less resources (time and space).

Resource usage:
Here, the time is considered to be the primary measure of efficiency. We are also
concerned with how much the respective algorithm involves the computer memory. But
mostly time is the resource that is dealt with. And the actual running time depends on a
variety of backgrounds: like the speed of the Computer, the language in which the
algorithm is implemented, the compiler/interpreter, skill of the programmers etc.
So, mainly the resource usage can be divided into: 1.Memory (space) 2.Time

Time taken by an algorithm?

 performance measurement or Apriori Analysis: Implementing the algorithm
in a machine and then calculating the time taken by the system to execute the program
successfully.
 Performance Evaluation or Apriori Analysis. Before implementing the algorithm in a
system. This is done as follows

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 1. How long the algorithm takes :-will be represented as a function of the size of
the input.

f(n)→how long it takes if ‘n’ is the size of input.

2. How fast the function that characterizes the running time grows with the input
size.
“Rate of growth of running time”.
The algorithm with less rate of growth of running time is considered better.

How algorithm is a Technology ?

Algorithms are just like a technology. We all use latest and greatest processors but we need
to run implementations of good algorithms on that computer in order to properly take benefits
of our money that we spent to have the latest processor. Let’s make this example more
concrete by pitting a faster computer(computer A) running a sorting algorithm whose running
time on n values grows like n2 against a slower computer (computer B) running a sorting
algorithm whose running time grows like n lg n. They each must sort an array of 10 million
numbers. Suppose that computer A executes 10 billion instructions per second (faster than any
single sequential computer at the time of this writing) and computer B executes only 10 million
instructions per second, so that computer A is1000 times faster than computer B in raw
computing power. To make the difference even more dramatic, suppose that the world’s
craftiest programmer codes in machine language for computer A, and the resulting code
requires 2n2 instructions to sort n numbers. Suppose further that just an average programmer
writes for computer B, using a high- level language with an inefficient compiler, with the
resulting code taking 50n lg n instructions.

Computer A (Faster) Computer B(Slower)

Running time grows like n2. Grows innlogn.

10 billion instructions per sec. 10million instruction per sec

2n2 instruction. 50 nlogn instruction.

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Time taken=

It is more than 5.5hrs it is under 20 mins.

So choosing a good algorithm (algorithm with slower rate of growth) as used by
computer B affects a lot.

Growth of Functions ( Asymptotic notations)

Before going for growth of functions and asymptotic notation let us see how to analyses
an algorithm.

How to analyse an Algorithm

Let us form an algorithm for Insertion sort (which sort a sequence of numbers).The pseudo
code for the algorithm is give below.

Pseudo code:

for j=2 to A length C1

key=A[j] C2

//Insert A[j] into sorted Array A[1.....j-1]----------------------C3

i=j-1 C4

while i>0 & A[j]>key- C5

A[i+1]=A[i]- C6

i=i 1- C7

A[i+1]=key C8

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Let Ci be the cost of ith line. Since comment lines will not incur any cost C3=0.

Cost No. Of times Executed

C1n

C2 n-1

C3=0 n-1

C4n-1 C5

C6 )

C7

C8n-1

Running time of the algorithm is:

T(n)=C1n+C2(n-1)+0(n-1)+C4(n-1)+C5 +C6( )+C7( )+ C8(n-1)

Best case:

It occurs when Array is sorted.

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All tjvalues are 1.

T(n)=C1n+C2(n-1)+0 (n-1)+C4(n-1)+C5 +C6( )+C7( )+ C8(n-1)

=C1n+C2 (n-1) +0 (n-1) +C4 (n-1) +C5 + C8 (n-1)

= (C1+C2+C4+C5+ C8) n-(C2+C4+C5+ C8)

 Which is of the form a n+b.

 Linear function of n.So, linear growth.

Worst case:

It occurs when Array is reverse sorted, and tj =j

T(n)=C1n+C2(n-1)+0 (n-1)+C4(n-1)+C5 +C6( )+C7( )+ C8(n-1)

=C1n+C2(n-1)+C4(n-1)+C5 +C6( )+C7( )+ C8(n-1)

which is of the form an2+bn+c

Quadratic function. So in worst case insertion set grows in n 2.

Why we concentrate on worst-case running time?

 The worst-case running time gives a guaranteed upper bound on the running time for
any input.
 For some algorithms, the worst case occurs often. For example, when searching, the
worst case often occurs when the item being searched for is not present, and searches
for absent items may be frequent.
 Why not analyze the average case? Because it’s often about as bad as the worst case.

Order of growth:

It is described by the highest degree term of the formula for running time. (Drop lower-order
terms. Ignore the constant coefficient in the leading term.)

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Example: We found out that for insertion sort the worst-case running time is of the form
an2 + bn + c.

Drop lower-order terms. What remains is an 2.Ignore constant coefficient. It results in n2.But
we cannot say that the worst-case running time T(n) equals n2 .Rather It grows like n2 . But it
doesn’t equal n2.We say that the running time is Θ (n 2) to capture the notion that the order of
grow this n2.
We usually consider one algorithm to be more efficient than another if its worst-case
running time has a smaller order of growth.

Asymptotic notation

 It is a way to describe the characteristics of a function in the limit.

 It describes the rate of growth of functions.
 Focus on what’s important by abstracting away low-order terms and constant factors.
 It is a way to compare “sizes” of functions:
O≈ ≤
Ω≈ ≥
Θ≈=
o≈ <

ω≈>

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Example: n2 /2 − 2n = Θ (n2), with c1 = 1/4, c2 = 1/2, and n0 = 8.

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 Recurrences, Solution of Recurrences by substitution, Recursion Tree
and Master Method

Recursion is a particularly powerful kind of reduction, which can be described loosely as

follows:

• If the given instance of the problem is small or simple enough, just solve it.

• Otherwise, reduce the problem to one or more simpler instances of the same problem.

Recursion is generally expressed in terms of recurrences. In other words, when an

algorithm calls to itself, we can often describe its running time by a recurrence equation which
describes the overall running time of a problem of size n in terms of the running time on smaller
inputs.

E.g.the worst case running time T(n) of the merge sort procedure by recurrence can be
expressed as
T(n)= ϴ(1) ; if n=1
2T(n/2) + ϴ(n) ;if n>1
whose solution can be found as T(n)=ϴ(nlog n)

There are various techniques to solve recurrences.

1. SUBSTITUTION METHOD:

The substitution method comprises of 3 steps

i. Guess the form of the solution

ii. Verify by induction
iii. Solve for constants

We substitute the guessed solution for the function when applying the inductive
hypothesis to smaller values. Hence the name “substitution method”. This method is powerful,
but we must be able to guess the form of the answer in order to apply it.

e.g.recurrence equation: T(n)=4T(n/2)+n

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step 1: guess the form of solution

T(n)=4T(n/2)

 F(n)=4f(n/2)
 F(2n)=4f(n)
 F(n)=n2
So, T(n) is order of n2
Guess T(n)=O(n3)

Step 2: verify the induction

Assume T(k)<=ck3
T(n)=4T(n/2)+n
<=4c(n/2)3 +n
<=cn3/2+n
<=cn3-(cn3/2-n)
T(n)<=cn3 as (cn3/2 –n) is always positive
So what we assumed was true.
 T(n)=O(n3)

Step 3: solve for constants

Cn3/2-n>=0
 n>=1
 c>=2

Now suppose we guess that T(n)=O(n2) which is tight upper bound

Assume,T(k)<=ck2

so,we should prove that T(n)<=cn2

T(n)=4T(n/2)+n
 4c(n/2)2+n
 cn2+n

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So,T(n) will never be less than cn 2. But if we will take the assumption of T(k)=c 1 k2-c2k, then we
can find that T(n) = O(n2)
2. BY ITERATIVE METHOD:

e.g. T(n)=2T(n/2)+n

=> 2[2T(n/4) + n/2 ]+n

=>22T(n/4)+n+n

=> 22[2T(n/8)+ n/4]+2n

=>23T(n/23) +3n

After k iterations ,T(n)=2kT(n/2k)+kn--------------(1)

Sub problem size is 1 after n/2k=1 => k=logn So,after

logn iterations ,the sub-problem size will be 1.

So,when k=logn is put in equation 1

T(n)=nT(1)+nlogn

 nc+nlogn ( say c=T(1))

 O(nlogn)

3. BY RECURSSION TREE METHOD:

In a recursion tree ,each node represents the cost of a single sub-problem somewhere in the set of
recursive problems invocations .we sum the cost within each level of the tree to obtain a set of
per level cost, and then we sum all the per level cost to determine the total cost of all levels of
recursion .
Constructing a recursion tree for the recurrence T(n)=3T(n/4)+cn2

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Constructing a recursion tree for the recurrence T (n)= 3T (n=4) + cn2.. Part (a) shows T (n),
which progressively expands in (b)–(d) to form the recursion tree. The fully expanded tree in part
(d) has height log4n (it has log4n + 1 levels).

Sub problem size at depth i =n/4i

Sub problem size is 1 when n/4i=1 => i=log4n

So, no. of levels =1+ log4n

Cost of each level = (no. of nodes) x (cost of each node)

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No. Of nodes at depth i=3i

Cost of each node at depth i=c (n/4i)2

Cost of each level at depth i=3i c (n/4i)2 = (3/16)icn2

T(n)= i=0∑log4n cn2(3/16)i

T(n)= i=0∑log4n -1 cn2(3/16)i + cost of last level

Cost of nodes in last level =3iT(1)

 c3log 4n (at last level i=log n)

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 cnlog43

T(n)= + c nlog 43

<= cn2

 <= cn2*(16/13)+ cnlog43 => T(n)=O(n2)

4. BY MASTER METHOD:

The master method solves recurrences of the form

T(n)=aT(n/b)+f(n)

where a>=1 and b>1 are constants and f(n) is a asymptotically positive function .

To use the master method, we have to remember 3 cases:

1. If f(n)=O(nlogba - Ɛ) for some constants Ɛ >0,then T(n)=ϴ(nlogba)

2. If f(n)=ϴ( nlogba) then T(n)=ϴ(nlogbalogn)

3. If f(n)=Ὠ(nlogba+Ɛ) for some constant Ɛ>0 ,and if a*f(n/b)<=c*f(n) for some constant c<1
and all sufficiently large n,then T(n)=ϴ(f(n))

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e.g. T(n)=2T(n/2)+nlogn

ans: a=2 b=2

f(n)=nlogn
using 2nd
formula2
f(n)=ϴ( nlog
2
logkn)
=>ϴ(n1 logkn)=nlogn=>K=1

T(n)=ϴ(2 nlog 2 log1n)

=>ϴ(nlog2n)

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