Fundamentals of Algorithm

Efficiency Analysis
Chapter 2
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))

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

f1(n) + f2(n)  O(max{g1(n), g2(n)})

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If f1(n)  O(g1(n)) and f2(n)  O(g2(n)) , then
f1(n) + f2(n)  O(max{g1(n), g2(n)})

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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

lim f(n) lim f ´(n)

=
n g(n) n g ´(n)
Example: log n vs. √n

Stirling’s formula: n!  (2n)1/2 (n/e)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

 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 or linearithmic

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u1 = 1+1+ ⋯ +1 = u - l + 1
In particular, liu1 = 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

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Example 2: Element uniqueness problem

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Example 3: Matrix multiplication
 Given two n × n matrices A and B, find the time efficiency
of the definition-based algorithm for computing their
product C = AB. By definition, C is an n × n matrix whose
elements are computed as the scalar products of the rows of
matrix A and the columns of matrix B:

 where C[i, j] = A[i, 0] B[0, j]+ . . . + A[i, k] B[k, j]+ . . . + A[i,

n − 1] B[n − 1, j] for every pair of indices 0 ≤ i, j ≤ n−1

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Example 3: Matrix multiplication

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Example 4: Counting binary digits

It cannot be investigated the way the previous examples are.

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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

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Solving the recurrence for M(n)

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

M(n) = M(n − i) + i
We can use the initial condition. Since it is specified for
n = 0, we have to substitute i = n in the above
equation to get the ultimate result of our backward
substitutions:
M(n) = M(n − n) + n = n.
M(n) = Ɵ(n) 17
Example 2: The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

In this puzzle, we have n disks of different sizes that can slide

onto any of three pegs. Initially, all the disks are on the first
peg in order of size. The goal is to move all the disks to the
third peg, using the second one as an auxiliary, if necessary.
We can move only one disk at a time, and it is forbidden to
place a larger disk on top of a smaller one.

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Example 2: The Tower of Hanoi Puzzle

1 3

Recurrence for number of moves:

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Pseudocode for Tower of Hanoi

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Solving recurrence for number of moves
Let us apply the general plan outlined before:
1. The number of disks n is the obvious choice for the input’s
size indicator
2. Moving one disk is the algorithm’s basic operation.
3. If we strictly follow the technique of moving disks as
discussed in the earlier slides worst, best, average cases are
all similar.
4. Clearly, the number of moves M(n) depends on n only, and
we get the following recurrence equation for it:
M(n) = M(n−1) + 1 + M(n−1) for n > 1
With initial condition M(1) = 1.

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Solving recurrence for number of moves
5. We solve this recurrence by the same method of
backward substitutions

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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

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