COMP90038
Algorithms and Complexity
Lecture 9: Decrease-and-Conquer-by-a-Constant (with thanks to Harald Søndergaard)
DMD 8.17 (Level 8, Doug McDonell Bldg)
http://people.eng.unimelb.edu.au/tobym @tobycmurray
2
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Decrease-and-Conquer- by-a-Constant
In this approach, the size of the problem is reduced by some constant in each iteration of the algorithm.
•
A simple example is the following approach to
•
sorting: To sort an array of length n, just
1. sort the first n − 1 items, then
2. locate the cell that should hold the last item, shift all elements to its right to the right, and place the last element.
Sorting n items
A:
0123456
Sort first n-1 items
23
9
52
12
41
83
46
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Sorting n items
A:
0123456
9
12
23
41
52
83
46
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Sorting n items
A:
0123456
9
12
23
41
52
83
46
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Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
52
83
46
6
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Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
52
83
83
7
Copyright University of Melbourne 2016, provided under Creative Commons Attribution License
Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
52
83
83
8
Copyright University of Melbourne 2016, provided under Creative Commons Attribution License
Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
52
52
83
9
Copyright University of Melbourne 2016, provided under Creative Commons Attribution License
Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
52
52
83
10 Copyright University of Melbourne 2016, provided under Creative Commons Attribution License
Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
46
52
83
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Sorting n items
A:
0123456
A[j] v: 46
9
12
23
41
46
52
83
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Insertion Sort
Sorting an array A[0]..A[n − 1]:
•
To sort A[0] .. A[i] first sort A[0] .. A[i-1], then insert A[i] in
•
its proper place
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Complexity of Insertion Sort
The for loop is traversed n − 1 times. In the ith round, the test v < A[j] is performed i times, in the worst case.
Hence the worst-case running time is
What does input look like in the worst case?
•
•
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•
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The Trick of Posting a Sentinel
If we are sorting elements from a domain that is bounded from
•
below, that is, there is a minimal element min, and the array A was
•
known to have a free cell to the left of A[0], then we could simplify the test. Namely, we would place min (a sentinel) in that cell (A[−1]) and change the test from
j ≥ 0 and v < A[j]
to just
v < A[j]
That will speed up insertion sort by a constant factor.
For this reason, extreme array cells (such as A[0] in C, and/or A[n +
•
1]) are sometimes left free deliberately, so that they can be used to hold sentinels; only A[1] to A[n] hold proper data.
Posting a Sentinel
A:
0123456
A[j]
Test required: j ≥ 0 and v < A[j]
9
23
52
12
41
83
46
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Posting a Sentinel
A:
01234567
A[j] Test required: v < A[j]
-1
9
23
52
12
41
83
46
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Properties of Insertion Sort
Easy to understand and implement.
Average-case and worst-case complexity both quadratic.
However, linear for almost-sorted input.
Some cleverer sorting algorithms perform almost-sorting and then let insertion sort take over.
• • • •
• •
In-place? Stable?
yes
?
Very good for small arrays (say, a couple of hundred
•
elements).
Insertion Sort Stability
key: 4 val: ab
key: 3 val: bc
key: 4 val: de
key: 3 val: fg
0123
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Insertion Sort Stability
key: 3 val: bc
key: 4 val: ab
key: 4 val: de
key: 3 val: fg
0123
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Insertion Sort Stability
key: 3 val: bc
key: 3 val: fg
key: 4 val: ab
key: 4 val: de
0123
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Stable
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Properties of Insertion Sort
Easy to understand and implement.
Average-case and worst-case complexity both quadratic.
However, linear for almost-sorted input.
Some cleverer sorting algorithms perform almost-sorting and then let insertion sort take over.
• • • •
• •
In-place? Stable?
yes
yes
Very good for small arrays (say, a couple of hundred
•
elements).
Shellsort: Motivation
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
It would be better if we could move the 9, 8, etc. to the right faster
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
8
9
7
6
5
4
3
7
8
9
6
5
4
3
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Shellsort: Motivation
Sort the yellow entries
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
6
8
7
9
5
4
3
3
8
7
6
5
4
9
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Shellsort: Motivation
Sort the blue entries
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
Sort the pink entries
A:
0123456
Notice how it is now almost sorted
3
8
7
6
5
4
9
3
5
7
6
8
4
9
3
5
4
6
8
7
9
Now do a final round of insertion sort over the entire array
A:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0123456
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Shellsort
We just did a shellsort for k=3 In general:
Think of the array as an interleaving of k lists Sort each list separately using insertion sort
•
•
•
•
Then sort the resulting entire array using a final
•
pass of insertion sort
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Shellsort Passes and Gap Sequences
For large files, start with larger k and then repeat with It is common to start from somewhere in the sequence
what is the sequence?
•
smaller ks
•
1, 4, 13, 40, 121, 364, 1093, ... and work backwards.
•
For example, for an array of size 20,000, start by 364-
•
sorting, then 121-sort, then 40-sort, and so on.
•
Sequences with smaller gaps (a factor of about 2.3) appear to work better, but nobody really understands why.
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Properties of Shellsort
• •
In-place? yes
?
Fewer comparisons than insertion sort. Known to
•
be worst-case O(n n) for good gap sequences.
Conjectured to be O(n1.25) but the algorithm is very Very good on medium-sized arrays (up to size
•
hard to analyse.
•
10,000 or so).
Stable?
Shellsort: Stability
A:
0123456
A:
0123456
after sorting the blues
1
7
4
6
4
8
9
1
4
4
6
7
8
9
relative order of the two 4s has changed!
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Properties of Shellsort
• •
In-place? yes
no
Fewer comparisons than insertion sort. Known to
•
be worst-case O(n n) for good gap sequences.
Conjectured to be O(n1.25) but the algorithm is very Very good on medium-sized arrays (up to size
•
hard to analyse.
•
10,000 or so).
Stable?
31
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Other Instances of Decrease-and- Conquer by a Constant
Insertion sort is a simple instance of the “decrease-
•
and-conquer by a constant” approach.
Another is the approach to topological sorting that
•
repeatedly removes a source.
•
In the next lecture we look at examples of “decrease by some factor”, leading to methods with logarithmic time behaviour or better!