Unit I - Basic Concepts of Algorithms

Unit I – Basic Concepts of
Algorithms
Introduction
Copyright © 2007 SSN College of Engineering

Algorithm
I Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Musu Al-Khowarizmi [Born: about 780
in Baghdad (now in Iraq). Died: about 850]
I An algorithm is a set of rules for carrying out calculation either by
hand or on a machine.
I An algorithm is a finite step-by-step procedure to achieve a required
result.
I An algorithm is a sequence of computational steps that transform

the input into the output.
I An algorithm is a sequence of operations performed on data that
have to be organized in data structures.
I An algorithm is an abstraction of a program to be executed on a
physical machine (model of Computation).
What is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a sequence of unambiguous instructions
for solving a problem, i.e., for obtaining a required
output for any legitimate input in a finite amount of
time.
problem
algorithm
input “computer” output
Copyright © 2007 SSN College Of Engineering. CS1201- “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms” 1-3
Notion of algorithm
problem
algorithm
input “computer” output
Algorithmic solution
Algorithms
I It is not depended on programming language, machine.
I Are mathematical entities, which can be thought of as
running on some sort of idealized computer with an infinite
random access memory
I Algorithm design is all about the mathematical theory
behind the design of good programs.
Contd…
I Algorithmic is a branch of computer science that consists
of designing and analyzing computer algorithms
I The “design” pertain to
• The description of algorithm at an abstract level by means of a
pseudo language, and
• Proof of correctness that is, the algorithm solves the given problem
in all cases.
I The “analysis” deals with performance evaluation
(complexity analysis).
I Random Access Machine (RAM) model
Why study algorithm design?
I Programming is a very complex task, and there are a number of aspects of
programming hat make it so complex. The first is that most programming
projects are very large, requiring the coordinated efforts of many people.
(This is the topic a course like software engineering.)
I The next is that many programming projects involve storing and accessing
large quantities of data efficiently. (This is the topic of courses on data
structures and databases.)
I The last is that many programming projects involve solving complex
computational problems, for which simplistic or naive solutions may not be
efficient enough. The complex problems may involve numerical data (the
subject of courses on numerical analysis), but often they involve discrete
data. This is where the topic of algorithm design and analysis is important.
I The focus of this course is on how to design good algorithms, and how to
analyze their efficiency. This is among the most basic aspects of good
programming.
Contd…
I Algorithms help us to understand scalability.
I •Performance often draws the line between what is feasible and
what is impossible.
I •Algorithmic mathematics provides a languagefor talking
about program behavior.
I •Performance is the currencyof computing.
I •The lessons of program performance generalize to other
computing resources.
I •Speed is fun!
Random Access Machine
I A Random Access Machine (RAM) consists of: . . .
• a fixed program input tape
• an unbounded memory
• a read-only input tape
• a write-only output tape Program
I Each memory register can hold an arbitrary integer (*)
...
I Each tape cell can hold a single symbol from a finite alphabet Σ Memory
output tape
. . .
I Instruction set:
• x ← y, x ← y {+, −, *, div, mod} z
• goto label
I Addressing modes:
• if y {<, ≤, =, ≥ ,> , ≠} z goto label • x may be direct or indirect
• x ← input, output ← y reference
• halt • y and z may be constants,
direct or indirect references
Contd…
I Why analyze algorithms?
• evaluate algorithm performance
• compare different algorithms
I Analyze what about them?
• running time, memory usage, solution quality
• worst-case and “typical” case
I Computational complexity
• understanding the intrinsic difficulty of computational problems -
classifying problems according to difficulty
• algorithms provide upper bound
• to show problem is hard, must show that any algorithm to solve it
requires at least a given amount of resources
• transform problems to establish “equivalent” difficulty
Example of computational problem:
sorting
I Statement of problem:
• Input: A sequence of n numbers <a1, a2, …, an>
• Output: A reordering of the input sequence <a´1, a´2, …, a´n> so that

a´i ≤ a´j whenever i < j
I Instance: The sequence <5, 3, 2, 8, 3>
I Algorithms:
• Selection sort
• Insertion sort
• Merge sort
• (many others)
Selection Sort
I Input: array a[1],…,a[n]
I Output: array a sorted in non-decreasing order
I Algorithm:
for i=1 to n
swap a[i] with smallest of a[i],…a[n]
• see also pseudocode, section 3.1

Insertion Sort
Contd..
Contd…
Contd…
I Worst-case: (usually)
I •T(n) =maximum time of algorithm on any input of size n.
I Average-case: (sometimes)
I •T(n) =expected time of algorithm over all inputs of size n.
I •Need assumption of statistical distribution of inputs.
I Best-case: (bogus)
I •Cheat with a slow algorithm that works fast on someinput
Contd…
Contd…
Contd…
Contd…
Some Well-known Computational
Problems
I Sorting
I Searching
I Shortest paths in a graph
I Minimum spanning tree
I Primality testing
I Traveling salesman problem
I Knapsack problem
I Chess
I Towers of Hanoi
I Program termination
What is an algorithm?
I Recipe, process, method, technique, procedure, routine,…
with following requirements:
1. Finiteness
I terminates after a finite number of steps
2. Definiteness
I rigorously and unambiguously specified
3. Input
I valid inputs are clearly specified
4. Output
I can be proved to produce the correct output given a valid input
5. Effectiveness
I steps are sufficiently simple and basic
Euclid’s Algorithm
Problem: Find gcd(m,n), the greatest common divisor of two
nonnegative, not both zero integers m and n
Examples: gcd(60,24) = 12, gcd(60,0) = 60, gcd(0,0) = ?
Euclid’s algorithm is based on repeated application of equality

gcd(m,n) = gcd(n, m mod n)
until the second number becomes 0, which makes the problem
trivial.
Example: gcd(60,24) = gcd(24,12) = gcd(12,0) = 12
Two descriptions of Euclid s
algorithm
Step 1 If n = 0, return m and stop; otherwise go to Step 2
Step 2 Divide m by n and assign the value fo the remainder to r
Step 3 Assign the value of n to m and the value of r to n. Go to
Step 1.
while n ≠ 0 do
r ← m mod n
m← n
n←r
return m
Other methods for computing
gcd(m,n)
Consecutive integer checking algorithm
Step 1 Assign the value of min{m,n} to t
Step 2 Divide m by t. If the remainder is 0, go to Step 3;
otherwise, go to Step 4
Step 3 Divide n by t. If the remainder is 0, return t and stop;
otherwise, go to Step 4
Step 4 Decrease t by 1 and go to Step 2
Other methods for gcd(m,n) [cont.]
Middle-school procedure
Step 1 Find the prime factorization of m
Step 2 Find the prime factorization of n
Step 3 Find all the common prime factors
Step 4 Compute the product of all the common prime factors
and return it as gcd(m,n)
Is this an algorithm?
Sieve of Eratosthenes
Input: Integer n ≥ 2
Output: List of primes less than or equal to n
for p ← 2 to n do A[p] ← p
for p ← 2 to ⎣n⎦ do
if A[p] ≠ 0 //p hasn’t been previously eliminated from the list
j ← p* p
while j ≤ n do
A[j] ← 0 //mark element as eliminated
j←j+p
Example: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Why study algorithms?
I Theoretical importance
• the core of computer science
I Practical importance
• A practitioner’s toolkit of known algorithms
• Framework for designing and analyzing algorithms for

new problems
Basic Issues Related to
Algorithms
I How to design algorithms
I How to analyze algorithms
Algorithm Problem solving
I Understand the problem
I Decide on:
• Computational Means
• Exact vs Approximate solving
• Data structures
• Algorithm design techniques
I Design an algorithm
I Prove correctness
I Analyse an algorithm
I Code an algorithm
Understand the problem
I First important step
I What must be done rather than how to do it
I Input-instance of the problem
I Ascertaining the capability of computational device
I Generic one-processor, random-access-machine (RAM)-
instructions are executed one by one.
I computer resources- memory, BW, CPU measures
efficiency of algorithm.
Choosing between exact and approximate problem solving
I An algorithm that can solve the problem exactly is called an

exact algorithm. The algorithm that can solve the problem
approximately is called an approximation algorithm.
I The problems that can be approximately are
• extracting square roots
• solving non-linear equations
• evaluate definite integrals
• for some, algorithm for solving a problem exactly is not acceptable
because it can be slow due to its intrinsic complexity of that
problem. For ex, like traveling salesman problem which finds
shortest tour through n cities.
Deciding on appropriate data
structures
I Algorithm + Data Structures = Program
Algorithmic design technique
I An algorithm design technique is a general approach to
solving problems mathematically that is applicable to a
variety of problems from different areas of computing.
I Algorithm design technique provides guidance for
designing algorithms for new problems or problems for
which there is no satisfactory algorithm. It makes it
possible to classify algorithm according to underlying
design idea.
Algorithm design
techniques/strategies
I Brute force I Greedy approach
I Divide and conquer I Dynamic programming
I Decrease and conquer I Iterative improvement
I Transform and conquer I Backtracking
I Space and time tradeoffs I Branch and bound
Analysis of algorithms
I How good is the algorithm?
• time efficiency
• space efficiency
I Does there exist a better algorithm?

• lower bounds
• optimality
Important problem types
I sorting
I searching
I string processing
I graph problems
I combinatorial problems
I geometric problems
I numerical problems
Fundamental data structures
I list I graph
• array I tree
• linked list I set and dictionary
• string
I stack
I queue
I priority queue
Analysis of algorithms
I Issues:
• correctness
• time efficiency
• space efficiency
• optimality
I Approaches:
• theoretical analysis
• empirical analysis
y
efficiency
Time efficiency is analyzed by determining the number of
repetitions of the basic operation as a function of input size
I Basic operation: the operation that contributes 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
executed
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
p y
efficiency
I Select a specific (typical) sample of inputs
I Use physical unit of time (e.g., milliseconds)

or
Count actual number of basic operation’s executions
I Analyze the empirical data
, g ,
case
For some algorithms efficiency depends on form of input:
I Worst case: Cworst(n) – maximum over inputs of size n
I Best case: Cbest(n) – minimum over inputs of size n
I 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
Example: Sequential search
• Worst case
• Best case
Types of formulas for basic operation s
count
I Exact formula
e.g., C(n) = n(n-1)/2
I Formula indicating order of growth with specific

multiplicative constant
e.g., C(n) ≈ 0.5 n2
I Formula indicating order of growth with unknown

multiplicative constant
e.g., C(n) ≈ cn2
Order of growth
I Most important: Order of growth within a constant multiple
as n→∞
I 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?
Values of some important functions as
n→∞
Asymptotic order of growth
A way of comparing functions that ignores constant factors and
small input sizes
I O(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow no faster than g(n)

(upper bound)
I Θ(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow at same rate as g(n)
(Same bound)
I Ω(g(n)): class of functions f(n) that grow at least as fast as g(n)
(Lower bound)
Big-oh
Big-omega
Big-theta
g g g
definition
Definition: f(n) is in 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:
I 10n is O(n2)
I 5n+20 is O(n)
p p y p
growth
I f(n) ∈ O(f(n))
I f(n) ∈ O(g(n)) iff g(n) ∈Ω(f(n))
I If f (n) ∈ O(g (n)) and g(n) ∈ O(h(n)) , then f(n) ∈ O(h(n))
Note similarity with a ≤ b
I If f1(n) ∈ O(g1(n)) and f2(n) ∈ O(g2(n)) , then

f1(n) + f2(n) ∈ O(max{g1(n), g2(n)})
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
p S g
formula
L’Hôpital’s rule: If limn→∞ f(n) = limn→∞ g(n) = ∞ and
the derivatives f´, g´ exist, then
lim f(n) lim f ´(n)

=
n→∞ g(n) n→∞ g ´(n)
Example:
Stirling log n vs. nn! ≈ (2πn)1/2 (n/e)n
’s formula:
Example: 2n vs. n!
Orders of growth of some important
functions
I All logarithmic functions loga n belong to the same class
Θ(log n) no matter what the logarithm’s base a > 1 is
I All polynomials of the same degree k belong to the same class:

aknk + ak-1nk-1 + … + a0 ∈ Θ(nk)
I Exponential functions an have different orders of growth for

different a’s
I order log n < order nα (α>0) < order an < order n! < order nn
y p y
classes
1 constant
log n logarithmic
n linear
n log n n-log-n
n2 quadratic
n3 cubic
2n exponential
n! factorial
y
algorithms
General Plan for Analysis
I Decide on parameter n indicating input size
I Identify algorithm’s basic operation
I Determine worst, average, and best cases for input of size n
I Set up a sum for the number of times the basic operation is

executed
I Simplify the sum using standard formulas and rules (see

Appendix A)
Useful summation formulas and rules
Σl≤i≤u1 = 1+1+…+1 = u - l + 1
In particular, Σl≤i≤u1 = n - 1 + 1 = n ∈ Θ(n)
Σ1≤i≤n i = 1+2+…+n = n(n+1)/2 ≈ n2/2 ∈ Θ(n2)
Σ1≤i≤n i2 = 12+22+…+n2 = n(n+1)(2n+1)/6 ≈ n3/3 ∈ Θ(n3)
Σ0≤i≤n ai = 1 + a +…+ an = (an+1 - 1)/(a - 1) for any a ≠ 1

In particular, Σ0≤i≤n 2i = 20 + 21 +…+ 2n = 2n+1 - 1 ∈ Θ(2n )
Σ(ai ± bi ) = Σai ± Σbi Σcai = cΣai Σl≤i≤uai = Σl≤i≤mai + Σm+1≤i≤uai
Example 1: Maximum element
p q
problem
p
multiplication
Example 4: Gaussian
elimination
Algorithm GaussianElimination(A[0..n-1,0..n])
//Implements Gaussian elimination of 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.
p g y
digits
It cannot be investigated the way the

y
Algorithms
I Decide on a parameter indicating an input’s size.
I Identify the algorithm’s basic operation.
I 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.)
I Set up a recurrence relation with an appropriate initial

condition expressing the number of times the basic op. is
executed.
I Solve the recurrence (or, at the very least, establish its

solution’s order of growth) by backward substitutions or
another method.
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
Solving the recurrence for M(n)
M(n) = M(n-1) + 1, M(0) = 0
p
Puzzle
1 3
Recurrence for number of moves:
g
moves
M(n) = 2M(n-1) + 1, M(1) = 1
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
Example 3: Counting #bits
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
S g ( ) ( ) (
2) = 0
I Set up the characteristic equation (quadratic)
ar2 + br + c = 0
I Solve to obtain roots r1 and r2
I 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
I Particular solution can be found by using initial conditions
numbers
F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2) or F(n) - F(n-1) - F(n-2) = 0
Characteristic equation:
Roots of the characteristic equation:
General solution to the recurrence:
Particular solution for F(0) =0, F(1)=1:
Computing Fibonacci numbers
1. Definition-based recursive algorithm
2. Nonrecursive definition-based algorithm
3. Explicit formula algorithm
4. Logarithmic algorithm based on formula:

F(n-1) F(n) 0 1 n
=
F(n) F(n+1) 1 1
for n≥1, assuming an efficient way of computing matrix powers.

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Unit I – Basic Concepts of

Copyright © 2007 SSN College of Engineering

I An algorithm is a sequence of computational steps that transform

input “computer” output

input “computer” output

• Output: A reordering of the input sequence <a´1, a´2, …, a´n> so that

I Instance: The sequence <5, 3, 2, 8, 3>

I Output: array a sorted in non-decreasing order

• see also pseudocode, section 3.1

I •T(n) =maximum time of algorithm on any input of size n.

I •T(n) =expected time of algorithm over all inputs of size n.

I •Need assumption of statistical distribution of inputs.

I •Cheat with a slow algorithm that works fast on someinput

Euclid’s algorithm is based on repeated application of equality

Example: gcd(60,24) = gcd(24,12) = gcd(12,0) = 12

• the core of computer science

• A practitioner’s toolkit of known algorithms

• Framework for designing and analyzing algorithms for

I An algorithm that can solve the problem exactly is called an

I Brute force I Greedy approach

I Divide and conquer I Dynamic programming

I Decrease and conquer I Iterative improvement

I Transform and conquer I Backtracking

I Space and time tradeoffs I Branch and bound

I Does there exist a better algorithm?

• linked list I set and dictionary

I Basic operation: the operation that contributes most

Problem Input size measure Basic operation

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

Multiplication of two Matrix dimensions or Multiplication of two

Checking primality of n’size = number of digits

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

I Analyze the empirical data

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

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

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

I Formula indicating order of growth with specific

I Formula indicating order of growth with unknown

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

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

I f(n) ∈ O(g(n)) iff g(n) ∈Ω(f(n))

I If f (n) ∈ O(g (n)) and g(n) ∈ O(h(n)) , then f(n) ∈ O(h(n))

Note similarity with a ≤ b

I If f1(n) ∈ O(g1(n)) and f2(n) ∈ O(g2(n)) , then

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)

lim f(n) lim f ´(n)

I All polynomials of the same degree k belong to the same class:

I Exponential functions an have different orders of growth for

I Decide on parameter n indicating input size

I Identify algorithm’s basic operation

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

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

I Simplify the sum using standard formulas and rules (see

Σ1≤i≤n i = 1+2+…+n = n(n+1)/2 ≈ n2/2 ∈ Θ(n2)

Σ1≤i≤n i2 = 12+22+…+n2 = n(n+1)(2n+1)/6 ≈ n3/3 ∈ Θ(n3)

Σ0≤i≤n ai = 1 + a +…+ an = (an+1 - 1)/(a - 1) for any a ≠ 1

Σ(ai ± bi ) = Σai ± Σbi Σcai = cΣai Σl≤i≤uai = Σl≤i≤mai + Σm+1≤i≤uai

Find the efficiency class and a constant factor improvement.

It cannot be investigated the way the

I Identify the algorithm’s basic operation.

I Check whether the number of times the basic op. is executed

I Set up a recurrence relation with an appropriate initial