Chapter 2

Fundamentals of the Analysis

of Algorithm Efficiency

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Analysis of algorithms
 Issues:
• correctness
• time efficiency
• space efficiency
• optimality

 Approaches:
• theoretical analysis
• empirical analysis

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 Theoretical analysis of time efficiency
Time efficiency is analyzed by determining the number of
repetitions of the basic operation as a function of input size

 Basic operation: the operation that contributes the most

towards the running time of the algorithm
input size

T(n) ≈ copC(n)
running time execution time Number of times
for basic operation basic operation is
or cost executed

Note: Different basic operations may cost differently!

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Input size and basic operation examples

Problem Input size measure Basic operation

Searching for key in a Number of list’s items,

Key comparison
list of n items i.e. n

Multiplication of two Matrix dimensions or Multiplication of two

matrices total number of elements numbers

Checking primality of n’size = number of digits

Division
a given integer n (in binary representation)

Visiting a vertex or
Typical graph problem #vertices and/or edges
traversing an edge

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Empirical analysis of time efficiency
 Select a specific (typical) sample of inputs

 Use physical unit of time (e.g., milliseconds)

or
Count actual number of basic operation’s executions

 Analyze the empirical data

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 Best-case, average-case, worst-case

For some algorithms, efficiency depends on form of input:

 Worst case: Cworst(n) – maximum over inputs of size n

 Best case: Cbest(n) – minimum over inputs of size n

 Average case: Cavg(n) – “average” over inputs of size n

• Number of times the basic operation will be executed on typical input
• NOT the average of worst and best case
• Expected number of basic operations considered as a random variable
under some assumption about the probability distribution of all possible
inputs. So, avg = expected under uniform distribution.

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Example: Sequential search

 Worst case
n key comparisons
 Best case
1 comparisons
 Average case (n+1)/2, assuming K is in A
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Types of formulas for basic operation’s count

 Exact formula
e.g., C(n) = n(n-1)/2

 Formula indicating order of growth with specific

multiplicative constant
e.g., C(n) ≈ 0.5 n2

 Formula indicating order of growth with unknown

multiplicative constant
e.g., C(n) ≈ cn2

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Order of growth
 Most important: Order of growth within a constant multiple
as n→∞

 Example:
• How much faster will algorithm run on computer that is
twice as fast?

• How much longer does it take to solve problem of double

input size?

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Values of some important functions as n  

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 Asymptotic order of growth
A way of comparing functions that ignores constant factors and
small input sizes (because?)

 O(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow no faster than g(n)

 Θ(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow at same rate as g(n)

 Ω(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow at least as fast as g(n)

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Big-oh

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Big-omega

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Big-theta

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Establishing order of growth using the definition

Definition: f(n) is in O(g(n)), denoted f(n)  O(g(n)), if order

of growth of f(n) ≤ order of growth of g(n) (within
constant multiple), i.e., there exist positive constant c and
non-negative integer n0 such that
f(n) ≤ c g(n) for every n ≥ n0

Examples:
 10n is in O(n2)

 5n+20 is in O(n)

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-notation

 Formal definition
• A function t(n) is said to be in (g(n)), denoted t(n) 
(g(n)), if t(n) is bounded below by some constant multiple
of g(n) for all large n, i.e., if there exist some positive
constant c and some nonnegative integer n0 such that
t(n)  cg(n) for all n  n0

 Exercises: prove the following using the above definition

• 10n2  (n2)
• 0.3n2 - 2n  (n2)
• 0.1n3  (n2)

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-notation

 Formal definition
• A function t(n) is said to be in (g(n)), denoted t(n)  (g(n)),
if t(n) is bounded both above and below by some positive
constant multiples of g(n) for all large n, i.e., if there exist some
positive constant c1 and c2 and some nonnegative integer n0
such that
c2 g(n)  t(n)  c1 g(n) for all n  n0

 Exercises: prove the following using the above definition

• 10n2  (n2)
• 0.3n2 - 2n  (n2)
• (1/2)n(n+1)  (n2)

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 >=
(g(n)), functions that grow at least as fast as g(n)

=
(g(n)), functions that grow at the same rate as g(n)
g(n)

<=
O(g(n)), functions that grow no faster than g(n)

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Theorem
 If t1(n)  O(g1(n)) and t2(n)  O(g2(n)), then
t1(n) + t2(n)  O(max{g1(n), g2(n)}).
• The analogous assertions are true for the -notation
and -notation.

 Implication: The algorithm’s overall efficiency will be determined by

the part with a larger order of growth, i.e., its least efficient part.
• For example, 5n2 + 3nlogn  O(n2)
Proof. There exist constants c1, c2, n1, n2 such that
t1(n)  c1*g1(n), for all n  n1
t2(n)  c2*g2(n), for all n  n2
Define c3 = c1 + c2 and n3 = max{n1,n2}. Then
t1(n) + t2(n)  c3*max{g1(n), g2(n)}, for all n  n3
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Some properties of asymptotic order of growth

 f(n)  O(f(n))

 f(n)  O(g(n)) iff g(n) (f(n))

 If f (n)  O(g (n)) and g(n)  O(h(n)) , then f(n)  O(h(n))

Note similarity with a ≤ b

 If f1(n)  O(g1(n)) and f2(n)  O(g2(n)) , then

f1(n) + f2(n)  O(max{g1(n), g2(n)})

Also, 1in (f(i)) =  (1in f(i))

Exercise: Can you prove these properties?

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Establishing order of growth using limits

0 order of growth of T(n) < order of growth of g(n)

lim T(n)/g(n) = c > 0 order of growth of T(n) = order of growth of g(n)

n→∞
∞ order of growth of T(n) > order of growth of g(n)

Examples:
• 10n vs. n2

• n(n+1)/2 vs. n2

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L’Hôpital’s rule and Stirling’s formula

L’Hôpital’s rule: If limn f(n) = limn g(n) =  and

the derivatives f´, g´ exist, then
Stirling’s formula: n!  (2n)1/2 (n/e)n
lim f(n) lim f ´(n)
=
n g(n) n g ´(n)
Example: log n vs. n

Example: 2n vs. n!

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 Orders of growth of some important functions
 All logarithmic functions loga n belong to the same class
(log n) no matter what the logarithm’s base a > 1 is
because log a n  log b n / log b a
 All polynomials of the same degree k belong to the same class:

aknk + ak-1nk-1 + … + a0  (nk)

 Exponential functions an have different orders of growth for different a’s

 order log n < order n (>0) < order an < order n! < order nn

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Basic asymptotic efficiency classes
1 constant

log n logarithmic

n linear

n log n n-log-n

n2 quadratic

n3 cubic

2n exponential

n! factorial

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Time efficiency of nonrecursive algorithms
General Plan for Analysis
 Decide on parameter n indicating input size

 Identify algorithm’s basic operation

 Determine worst, average, and best cases for input of size n

 Set up a sum for the number of times the basic operation is

executed

 Simplify the sum using standard formulas and rules (see

Appendix A)

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Useful summation formulas and rules
lin1 = 1+1+…+1 = n - l + 1
In particular, lin1 = n - 1 + 1 = n  (n)

1in i = 1+2+…+n = n(n+1)/2  n2/2  (n2)

1in i2 = 12+22+…+n2 = n(n+1)(2n+1)/6  n3/3  (n3)

0in ai = 1 + a +…+ an = (an+1 - 1)/(a - 1) for any a  1

In particular, 0in 2i = 20 + 21 +…+ 2n = 2n+1 - 1  (2n )

(ai ± bi ) = ai ± bi cai = cai liuai = limai + m+1iuai

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Example 1: Maximum element

T(n) = 1in-1 1 = n-1 = (n) comparisons

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Example 2: Element uniqueness problem

T(n) = 0in-2 (i+1jn-1 1)

= 0in-2 n-i-1 = (n-1+1)(n-1)/2
= ( n 2 ) comparisons
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Example 3: Matrix multiplication

T(n) = 0in-1 0in-1 n

= 0in-1 ( n 2 )
= ( n 3 ) multiplications
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Example 4: Gaussian elimination
Algorithm GaussianElimination(A[0..n-1,0..n])
//Implements Gaussian elimination on an n-by-(n+1) matrix A
for i  0 to n - 2 do
for j  i + 1 to n - 1 do
for k  i to n do
A[j,k]  A[j,k] - A[i,k]  A[j,i] / A[i,i]

Find the efficiency class and a constant factor improvement.

for i  0 to n - 2 do
for j  i + 1 to n - 1 do
B  A[j,i] / A[i,i]
for k  i to n do
A[j,k]  A[j,k] – A[i,k] * B
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Example 5: Counting binary digits

It cannot be investigated the way the previous examples are.

The halving game: Find integer i such that n/2i ≤ 1.
Answer: i ≤ log n. So, T(n) = (log n) divisions.
Another solution: Using recurrence relations.
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Plan for Analysis of Recursive Algorithms
 Decide on a parameter indicating an input’s size.

 Identify the algorithm’s basic operation.

 Check whether the number of times the basic op. is executed
may vary on different inputs of the same size. (If it may, the
worst, average, and best cases must be investigated separately.)
 Set up a recurrence relation with an appropriate initial
condition expressing the number of times the basic op. is
executed.
 Solve the recurrence (or, at the very least, establish its
solution’s order of growth) by backward substitutions or
another method.

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Example 1: Recursive evaluation of n!
Definition: n ! = 1  2  … (n-1)  n for n ≥ 1 and 0! = 1

Recursive definition of n!: F(n) = F(n-1)  n for n ≥ 1 and

F(0) = 1

Size: n
Basic operation: multiplication
Recurrence relation: M(n) = M(n-1) + 1
M(0) = 0
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Solving the recurrence for M(n)

M(n) = M(n-1) + 1, M(0) = 0

M(n) = M(n-1) + 1
= (M(n-2) + 1) + 1 = M(n-2) + 2
= (M(n-3) + 1) + 2 = M(n-3) + 3
…
= M(n-i) + i
= M(0) + n
=n
The method is called backward substitution.
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Example 2: The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

1 3

Recurrence for number of moves:

M(n) = 2M(n-1) + 1
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Solving recurrence for number of moves

M(n) = 2M(n-1) + 1, M(1) = 1

M(n) = 2M(n-1) + 1
= 2(2M(n-2) + 1) + 1 = 2^2*M(n-2) + 2^1 + 2^0
= 2^2*(2M(n-3) + 1) + 2^1 + 2^0
= 2^3*M(n-3) + 2^2 + 2^1 + 2^0
=…
= 2^(n-1)*M(1) + 2^(n-2) + … + 2^1 + 2^0
= 2^(n-1) + 2^(n-2) + … + 2^1 + 2^0
= 2^n -1
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Tree of calls for the Tower of Hanoi Puzzle
n

n-1 n-1

n-2 n-2 n-2 n-2

... ... ...
2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

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Example 3: Counting #bits

A(n) = A( n / 2 ) + 1, A(1) = 0

A(2 k ) = A( 2 k 1) + 1, A( 2 0) = 1 (using the Smoothness Rule)

= (A( 2 k 2) + 1) + 1 = A(2 k 2) + 2
k i
= A(2 )+i
= A(2 k k ) + k = k + 0
= log 2 n
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 Smoothness Rule

 Let f(n) be a nonnegative function defined on the set of natural

numbers. f(n) is call smooth if it is eventually nondecreasing and
f(2n) ∈ Θ (f(n))
• Functions that do not grow too fast, including logn, n, nlogn, and
n where >=0 are smooth.
 Smoothness rule
Let T(n) be an eventually nondecreasing function and f(n) be a
smooth function. If
T(n) ∈ Θ (f(n)) for values of n that are powers of b,
where b>=2, then
T(n) ∈ Θ (f(n)) for any n.

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Fibonacci numbers
The Fibonacci numbers:
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …

The Fibonacci recurrence:

F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2)
F(0) = 0
F(1) = 1

General 2nd order linear homogeneous recurrence with

constant coefficients:
aX(n) + bX(n-1) + cX(n-2) = 0

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Solving aX(n) + bX(n-1) + cX(n-2) = 0
 Set up the characteristic equation (quadratic)
ar2 + br + c = 0

 Solve to obtain roots r1 and r2

 General solution to the recurrence

if r1 and r2 are two distinct real roots: X(n) = αr1n + βr2n
if r1 = r2 = r are two equal real roots: X(n) = αrn + βnr n

 Particular solution can be found by using initial conditions

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Application to the Fibonacci numbers

F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2) or F(n) - F(n-1) - F(n-2) = 0

Characteristic equation: r 2 - r -1 = 0

Roots of the characteristic equation: r1, 2  (1  5 ) / 2

n n
General solution to the recurrence:   r1    r2

Particular solution for F(0) =0, F(1)=1:   0

  r1    r2  1

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Computing Fibonacci numbers
1. Definition-based recursive algorithm

2. Nonrecursive definition-based algorithm

3. Explicit formula algorithm

4. Logarithmic algorithm based on formula:

n
F(n-1) F(n) 0 1
=
F(n) F(n+1) 1 1

for n≥1, assuming an efficient way of computing matrix powers.

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Important Recurrence Types
 Decrease-by-one recurrences
• A decrease-by-one algorithm solves a problem by exploiting a relationship
between a given instance of size n and a smaller size n – 1.
• Example: n!
• The recurrence equation for investigating the time efficiency of such
algorithms typically has the form
T(n) = T(n-1) + f(n)
 Decrease-by-a-constant-factor recurrences
• A decrease-by-a-constant-factor algorithm solves a problem by dividing its
given instance of size n into several smaller instances of size n/b, solving
each of them recursively, and then, if necessary, combining the solutions to
the smaller instances into a solution to the given instance.
• Example: binary search.
• The recurrence equation for investigating the time efficiency of such
algorithms typically has the form
T(n) = aT(n/b) + f (n)

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 Decrease-by-one Recurrences

 One (constant) operation reduces problem size by one.

T(n) = T(n-1) + c T(1) = d
Solution:
T(n) = (n-1)c + d linear
 A pass through input reduces problem size by one.
T(n) = T(n-1) + c n T(1) = d
Solution:

T(n) = [n(n+1)/2 – 1] c + d quadratic

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Decrease-by-a-constant-factor recurrences –
The Master Theorem

T(n) = aT(n/b) + f (n), where f (n) ∈ Θ(nk) , k>=0

1. a < bk T ( n) ∈ Θ ( n k)
2. a = bk T ( n) ∈ Θ(nk log n )
3. a > bk T ( n) ∈ Θ(nlog a)
b

4. Examples:
1. T(n) = T(n/2) + 1
2. T(n) = 2T(n/2) + n Θ(log n)
3. T(n) = 3T(n/2) + n Θ(nlog n)
4. T(n) = T(n/2) + n Θ(nlog23)
Θ(n)
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