Analysis of Algorithms
Analysis of Algorithms
• An algorithm is a finite set of precise
instructions for performing a computation
or for solving a problem.
– It must produce the correct result
– It must finish in some finite time
– You can represent an algorithm using
pseudocode, flowchart, or even actual code
Analysis of Algorithms
Analysis of Algorithms
• What does it mean to analyze an algorithm?
– To have an estimate about how much time an
algorithm may take to finish, or in other words, to
analyze its running time
– Sometimes, instead of running time, we are interested
in how much memory the algorithm may consume
while it runs
– It enables us to compare between two algorithms
• What do we mean by running time analysis?
– Also referred to as time-complexity analysis
– To determine how running time increases as the size of
the problem increases.
Analysis of Algorithms
What is the goal?
• Analyze time requirements - predict how
running time increases as the size of the
problem increases:
time = f(size)
Why is it useful?
• To compare different algorithms.
Defining “problem size”
• Typically, it is straightforward to identify the size of
a problem, e.g.:
– size of array
– size of stack, queue, list etc.
– vertices and edges in a graph
• But not always …
Time Analysis
• Provides upper and lower bounds of running time.
Lower Bound Running Time Upper Bound
• Different types of analysis:
- Worst case
- Best case
- Average case
Worst Case
• Provides an upper bound on running time.
• An absolute guarantee that the algorithm would not
run longer, no matter what the inputs are.
Lower Bound Running Time Upper Bound
Best Case
• Provides a lower bound on running time.
• Input is the one for which the algorithm runs the
fastest.
Lower Bound Running Time Upper Bound
Average Case
• Provides an estimate of “average” running time.
• Assumes that the input is random.
• Useful when best/worst cases do not happen very
often (i.e., few input cases lead to best/worst cases).
Lower Bound Running Time Upper Bound
Example: Searching
• Problem of searching an ordered list.
– Given a list L of n elements that are sorted into
a definite order (e.g., numeric, alphabetical),
– And given a particular element x,
– Determine whether x appears in the list, and if
so, return its index (i.e., position) in the list.
Linear Search
procedure linear search
(x: integer, a1, a2, …, an: distinct integers)
i := 1
while (i n x ai) NOT EFFICIENT!
i := i + 1
if i n then location := i
else location := 0
return location
How do we analyze an algorithm?
• Need to define objective measures.
(1) Compare execution times?
Not good: times are specific to a particular machine.
(2) Count the number of statements?
Not good: number of statements varies with
programming language and programming style.
Example
Algorithm 1 Algorithm 2
arr[0] = 0; for(i=0; i<N; i++)
arr[1] = 0; arr[i] = 0;
arr[2] = 0;
...
arr[N-1] = 0;
How do we analyze an algorithm?
(cont.)
(3) Express running time t as a function of
problem size n (i.e., t=f(n) ).
- Given two algorithms having running times f(n)
and g(n), find which functions grows faster.
- Such an analysis is independent of machine
time, programming style, etc.
How do we find f(n)?
(1) Associate a "cost" with each statement.
(2) Find total number of times each statement is executed.
(3) Add up the costs.
Algorithm 1 Algorithm 2
Cost Cost
arr[0] = 0; c1 for(i=0; i<N; i++) c2
arr[1] = 0; c1 arr[i] = 0; c1
arr[2] = 0; c1
...
arr[N-1] = 0; c1
----------- -------------
c1+c1+...+c1 = c1 x N (N+1) x c2 + N x c1 =
(c2 + c1) x N + c2
How do we find f(n)? (cont.)
Cost
sum = 0; c1
for(i=0; i<N; i++) c2
for(j=0; j<N; j++) c2
sum += arr[i][j]; c3
------------
c1 + c2 x (N+1) + c2 x N x (N+1) + c3 x N x N
Comparing algorithms
• Given two algorithms having running times
f(n) and g(n), how do we decide which one
is faster?
• Compare “rates of growth” of f(n) and g(n)
Understanding Rate of Growth
• Consider the example of buying elephants and
goldfish:
Cost: (cost_of_elephants) + (cost_of_goldfish)
Approximation:
Cost ~ cost_of_elephants
Understanding Rate of Growth
(cont’d)
• The low order terms of a function are relatively
insignificant for large n
n4 + 100n2 + 10n + 50
Approximation:
n4
• Highest order term determines rate of growth!
Example
• Suppose you are designing a website to process
user data (e.g., financial records).
• Suppose program A takes fA(n)=30n+8
microseconds to process any n records, while
program B takes fB(n)=n2+1 microseconds to
process the n records.
• Which program would you choose, knowing
you’ll want to support millions of users?
Compare rates of growth:
30n+8 ~ n and n2+1 ~ n2
Visualizing Orders of Growth
• On a graph, as
you go to the
Value of function
fA(n)=30n+8
right, a faster
growing
function
fB(n)=n2+1
eventually
becomes
larger... Increasing n
Rate of Growth ≡Asymptotic Analysis
• Using rate of growth as a measure to compare
different functions implies comparing them
asymptotically (i.e., as n )
• If f(x) is faster growing than g(x), then f(x)
always eventually becomes larger than g(x) in
the limit (i.e., for large enough values of x).
Types of Analysis
• Worst-case: (usually done)
– upper bound on running time
– maximum running time of algorithm on any input
of size n
• Average-case: (sometimes done)
– we take all possible inputs and calculate computing
time for all of the inputs
– sum all the calculated values and divide the sum by
total number of inputs
– we must know (or predict) distribution of cases
• Best-case: (bogus)
– lower bound on running time of an algorithm
– minimum running time of algorithm on any input of
size n
Asymptotic Notation
• O notation: asymptotic “less than”:
f(n)=O(g(n)) implies: f(n) “≤” c g(n) in the limit*
c is a constant
(used in worst-case analysis)
Asymptotic Notation
• notation: asymptotic “greater than”:
f(n)= (g(n)) implies: f(n) “≥” c g(n) in the limit*
c is a constant
(used in best-case analysis)
Asymptotic Notation
• notation: asymptotic “equality”:
f(n)= (g(n)) implies: f(n) “=” c g(n) in the limit*
c is a constant
(provides a tight bound of running time)
(best and worst cases are same)
Big-O Notation - Examples
fA(n)=30n+8 is O(n)
fB(n)=n2+1 is O(n2)
10n3 + 2n2 is O(n3)
n3 - n2 is O(n3)
1273 is O(1)
Common orders of magnitude
Algorithm speed vs function growth
• An O(n ) algorithm will be slower than an O(n)
2
algorithm (for large n).
• But an O(n2) function will grow faster than an
O(n) function. Value of function
fA(n)=30n+8
fB(n)=n2+1
Increasing n
Estimating running time
Algorithm 1 Algorithm 2
Cost Cost
arr[0] = 0; c1 for(i=0; i<N; i++) c2
arr[1] = 0; c1 arr[i] = 0; c1
arr[2] = 0; c1
...
arr[N-1] = 0; c1
----------- -------------
c1+c1+...+c1 = c1 x N (N+1) x c2 + N x c1 =
(c2 + c1) x N + c2
O(N)
Estimate running time (cont.)
Cost
sum = 0; c1
for(i=0; i<N; i++) c2
for(j=0; j<N; j++) c2
sum += arr[i][j]; c3
------------
c1 + c2 x (N+1) + c2 x N2 x (N+1) + c3 x N x N
O(N )
Running time of various statements
while-loop for-loop
Examples
i = 0;
while (i<N) {
X=X+Y; // O(1)
result = mystery(X); // O(N), just an example...
i++; // O(1)
}
• The body of the while loop: O(N)
• Loop is executed: N times
N x O(N) = O(N2)
Examples (cont.’d)
if (i<j)
for ( i=0; i<N; i++ ) O(N)
X = X+i;
else
O(1)
X=0;
Max ( O(N), O(1) ) = O (N)
Examples (cont.’d)
Examples (cont.’d)
Examples (cont.’d)
• Analyze the complexity of the following
code segments:
