FUNDAMENTALS OF ALGORITHMIC PROBLEM SOLVING A sequence of steps

involved in designing and analyzing an algorithm is shown in the figure below.

FIGURE 1.2 Algorithm design and analysis process. (i) Understanding the Problem
This is the first step in designing of algorithm. Read the problem’s description
carefully to understand the problem statement completely. Ask questions for
clarifying the doubts about the problem. Identify the problem types and use existing
algorithm to find solution. Input (instance) to the problem and range of the input
get fixed. (ii) Decision making The Decision making is done on the following: (a)
Ascertaining the Capabilities of the Computational Device In random-access
machine (RAM), instructions are executed one after another (The central
assumption is that one operation at a time). Accordingly, algorithms
designed to be executed on such machines are called sequential algorithms.
In some newer computers, operations are executed concurrently, i.e., in parallel.
Algorithms that take advantage of this capability are called parallel algorithms.
Choice of computational devices like Processor and memory is mainly based on
space and time efficiency
(b) Choosing between Exact and Approximate Problem Solving The next principal
decision is to choose between solving the problem exactly or solving it
approximately. An algorithm used to solve the problem exactly and produce correct
result is called an exact algorithm.
If the problem is so complex and not able to get exact solution, then we have to
choose an algorithm called an approximation algorithm. i.e., produces an
CS6402 __ Design and Analysis of Algorithms _ Unit I ______1.4 approximate answer. E.g.,
extracting square roots, solving nonlinear equations, and evaluating definite
integrals. (c) Algorithm Design Techniques An algorithm design technique (or
“strategy” or “paradigm”) is a general approach to solving problems algorithmically
that is applicable to a variety of problems from
different areas of computing.
Algorithms+ Data Structures = Programs
Though Algorithms and Data Structures are independent, but they are combined
together to develop program. Hence the choice of proper data structure is required
before designing the algorithm. Implementation of algorithm is possible only with
the help of Algorithms and Data
Structures Algorithmic strategy / technique / paradigm are a general approach by
which
many problems can be solved algorithmically. E.g., Brute Force, Divide and
Conquer, Dynamic Programming, Greedy Technique and so on. (iii) Methods of
Specifying an Algorithm There are three ways to specify an algorithm. They are:
a. Natural language b. Pseudocode c. Flowchart FIGURE 1.3 Algorithm Specifications
Pseudocode and flowchart are the two options that are most widely used nowadays
for specifying algorithms. a. Natural Language It is very simple and easy to specify an
algorithm using natural language. But many times
specification of algorithm by using natural language is not clear and thereby we get
brief
specification. Example: An algorithm to perform addition of two numbers. Step 1:
Read the first number, say a. Step 2: Read the first number, say b. Step 3: Add the
above two numbers and store the result in c. Step 4: Display the result from c. Such
a specification creates difficulty while actually implementing it. Hence many
programmers prefer to have specification of algorithm by means of Pseudocode.
Algorithm Specification Natural Language Flowchart Pseudocode
CS6402 __ Design and Analysis of Algorithms _ Unit I ______1.5 b. Pseudocode Pseudocode is
a mixture of a natural language and programming language constructs.
Pseudocode is usually more precise than natural language. For Assignment
operation left arrow “←”, for comments two slashes “//”,if condition, for, while loops
are used. ALGORITHM Sum(a,b) //Problem Description: This algorithm performs
addition of two numbers //Input: Two integers a and b //Output: Addition of two
integers c←a+b
return c This specification is more useful for implementation of any language. c.
Flowchart In the earlier days of computing, the dominant method for specifying
algorithms was a flowchart,
this representation technique has proved to be inconvenient.
Flowchart is a graphical representation of an algorithm. It is a a method of
expressing an algorithm by a collection of connected geometric shapes containing
descriptions of the algorithm’s steps.
FIGURE 1.4 Flowchart symbols and Example for two integer addition. (iv) Proving an
Algorithm’s Correctness
Once an algorithm has been specified then its correctness must be proved. An
algorithm must yields a required result for every legitimate input in a finite amount of
time. Start
Start
c = a + b Input the value of a Input the value of b Display the value of c Stop Stop Example: Addition
of a and b Start state Symbols Transition / Assignment Processing / Input read Input and Output
Condition / Decision Flow connectivity Stop state
CS6402 __ Design and Analysis of Algorithms _ Unit I ______1.6 For example, the correctness
of Euclid’s algorithm for computing the greatest common divisor stems from the
correctness of the equality gcd(m, n) = gcd(n, m mod n). A common technique for
proving correctness is to use mathematical induction because an algorithm’s
iterations provide a natural sequence of steps needed for such proofs.
The notion of correctness for approximation algorithms is less straightforward than
it is for exact algorithms. The error produced by the algorithm should not exceed a
predefined
limit.
(v) Analyzing an Algorithm For an algorithm the most important is efficiency. In
fact, there are two kinds of algorithm efficiency. They are: Time efficiency,
indicating how fast the algorithm runs, and Space efficiency, indicating how much
extra memory it uses.
The efficiency of an algorithm is determined by measuring both time efficiency and
space efficiency. So factors to analyze an algorithm are: Time efficiency of an
algorithm Space efficiency of an algorithm Simplicity of an algorithm
Generality of an algorithm (vi) Coding an Algorithm The coding / implementation
of an algorithm is done by a suitable programming language like C, C++, JAVA.
The transition from an algorithm to a program can be done either incorrectly or very
inefficiently. Implementing an algorithm correctly is necessary. The Algorithm power
should not reduced by inefficient implementation. Standard tricks like computing a
loop’s invariant (an expression that does not change its value) outside the loop,
collecting common subexpressions, replacing expensive operations by cheap ones,
selection of programming language and so on should be known to the programmer.
Typically, such improvements can speed up a program only by a constant factor,
whereas a better algorithm can make a difference in running time by orders of
magnitude. But once an algorithm is selected, a 10–50% speedup may be worth an
effort. It is very essential to write an optimized code (efficient code) to reduce the
burden of compiler. 1.3 IMPORTANT PROBLEM TYPES The most important
problem types are: (i). Sorting (ii). Searching (iii). String processing (iv). Graph
problems (v). Combinatorial problems (vi). Geometric problems (vii). Numerical
problems
CS6402 __ Design and Analysis of Algorithms _ Unit I ______1.7 (i) Sorting The sorting
problem is to rearrange the items of a given list in nondecreasing (ascending) order.
Sorting can be done on numbers, characters, strings or records. To sort student
records in alphabetical order of names or by student number or by student
grade-point average. Such a specially chosen piece of information is called a key.
An algorithm is said to be in-place if it does not require extra memory, E.g., Quick
sort.
A sorting algorithm is called stable if it preserves the relative order of any two equal
elements in its input. (ii) Searching The searching problem deals with finding a
given value, called a search key, in a given set. E.g., Ordinary Linear search and
fast binary search. (iii) String processing A string is a sequence of characters from
an alphabet. Strings comprise letters, numbers, and special characters; bit strings,
which comprise zeros and ones; and gene sequences, which can be modeled by
strings of characters from the four-
character alphabet {A, C, G, T}. It is very useful in bioinformatics. Searching for a
given word in a text is called string matching (iv) Graph problems A graph is a
collection of points called vertices, some of which are connected by line segments
called edges. Some of the graph problems are graph traversal, shortest path
algorithm, topological sort,
traveling salesman problem and the graph-coloring problem and so on. (v)
Combinatorial problems These are problems that ask, explicitly or implicitly, to find
a combinatorial object such as a permutation, a combination, or a subset that
satisfies certain constraints. A desired combinatorial object may also be required to
have some additional property such s a maximum value or a minimum cost. In
practical, the combinatorial problems are the most difficult problems in computing.
The traveling salesman problem and the graph coloring problem are examples of
combinatorial problems.
(vi) Geometric problems Geometric algorithms deal with geometric objects such
as points, lines, and polygons. Geometric algorithms are used in computer
graphics, robotics, and tomography. The closest-pair problem and the convex-
hull