Chapter 5

Decrease-and-
Conquer

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 Decrease-and-Conquer
1. Reduce problem instance to smaller instance of
the same problem
2. Solve smaller instance
3. Extend solution of smaller instance to obtain
solution to original instance

● Can be implemented either top-down or bottom-

up
● Also referred to as inductive or incremental
approach

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 3 Types of Decrease and
Conquer
● Decrease by a constant (usually by 1):
• insertion sort
• graph traversal algorithms (DFS and BFS)
• topological sorting
• algorithms for generating permutations, subsets

● Decrease by a constant factor (usually by half)

• binary search and bisection method
• exponentiation by squaring
• multiplication à la russe
● Variable-size decrease
• Euclid’s algorithm
• selection by partition
• Nim-like games

This usually results in a recursive algorithm.

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 What’s the difference?
Consider the problem of exponentiation: Compute
xn
n-1 multiplications
● Brute Force:
T(n) = 2*T(n/2) + 1
● Divide and conquer: = n-1
T(n) = T(n-1) + 1 = n-1
● Decrease by one:
T(n) = T(n/a) + a-1
● Decrease by constant factor:
= (a-1) n
= when a = 2
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 Insertion Sort
To sort array A[0..n-1], sort A[0..n-2] recursively
and then insert A[n-1] in its proper place among
the sorted A[0..n-2]

● Usually implemented bottom up (nonrecursively)

Example: Sort 6, 4, 1, 8, 5

6|4 1 8 5
4 6|1 8 5
1 4 6|8 5
1 4 6 8|5
1 4 5 6 8

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 Pseudocode of Insertion Sort

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 Analysis of Insertion Sort
● Time efficiency
Cworst(n) = n(n-1)/2 ∈ Θ(n2)
Cavg(n) ≈ n2/4 ∈ Θ(n2)
Cbest(n) = n - 1 ∈ Θ(n) (also fast on almost sorted
arrays)

● Space efficiency: in-place

● Stability: yes

● Best elementary sorting algorithm overall

● Binary insertion sort

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Graph Traversal
Many problems require processing all graph
vertices (and edges) in systematic fashion

Graph traversal algorithms:

• Depth-first search (DFS)

• Breadth-first search (BFS)

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-7
 Depth-First Search (DFS)
● Visits graph’s vertices by always moving away
from last
visited vertex to an unvisited one, backtracks if
no adjacent
unvisited vertex is available.

● Recurisve or it uses a stack

• a vertex is pushed onto the stack when it’s
reached for the first time
• a vertex is popped off the stack when it becomes
a dead end, i.e., when there is no adjacent
unvisited vertex

● “Redraws” graph in tree-like fashion (with tree 5-8

A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 ed., Ch. 5
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. nd

edges and
Pseudocode of DFS

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Example: DFS traversal of undirected
graph

a b c d

e f g h

DFS traversal DFS tree:

stack:
1 2 6 7
a b c d
abgcdh
abgcd
abgcd
abgc
abfe

abg
abf
abf
ab

ab

e f g h
…
a

4 3 5 8
Red edges are tree
edges and white edges
are back edges. 5-10
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 Notes on DFS
● DFS can be implemented with graphs represented
as:
• adjacency matrices: Θ(|V|2). Why?
• adjacency lists: Θ(|V|+|E|). Why?

● Yields two distinct ordering of vertices:

• order in which vertices are first encountered (pushed
onto stack)
• order in which vertices become dead-ends (popped off
stack)

● Applications:
• checking connectivity, finding connected components
• checking acyclicity (if no back edges)
Copyright•© 2007finding articulation
Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. points and
A. Levitin “Introduction biconnected
to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 components
nd
ed., Ch. 5 5-11

• searching the state-space of problems for solutions (in

 Breadth-first search (BFS)
● Visits graph vertices by moving across to all the
neighbors of the last visited vertex

● Instead of a stack, BFS uses a queue

● Similar to level-by-level tree traversal

● “Redraws” graph in tree-like fashion (with tree

edges and cross edges for undirected graph)

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 Pseudocode of BFS

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-13
Example of BFS traversal of
undirected graph

a b c d

e f g h

BFS traversal BFS

queue: tree:
1 2 6 8
a b c d
bef
efg

hd
ch
fg

e f g h
d
a

3 4 5 7
Red edges are tree edges
and white edges are cross
edges. 5-14
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5
 Notes on BFS
● BFS has same efficiency as DFS and can be
implemented with graphs represented as:
• adjacency matrices: Θ(|V|2). Why?
• adjacency lists: Θ(|V|+|E|). Why?

● Yields single ordering of vertices (order added/

deleted from queue is the same)

● Applications: same as DFS, but can also find paths

from a vertex to all other vertices with the
smallest number of edges

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-15
 DAGs and Topological Sorting
A dag: a directed acyclic graph, i.e. a directed graph with no
(directed) cycles

a b a b
a not a
dag dag
c d c d

Arise in modeling many problems that involve prerequisite

constraints (construction projects, document version control)

Vertices of a dag can be linearly ordered so that for every edge

its starting vertex is listed before its ending vertex
(topological sorting). Being a dag is also a necessary
condition for topological sorting to be possible.

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 Topological Sorting Example
Order the following items in a food chain
tige
r
hu
ma
n
fish
she
ep
shri
mp
pla
wh
nkt
eat
on
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DFS-based Algorithm
DFS-based algorithm for topological sorting
• Perform DFS traversal, noting the order vertices are
popped off the traversal stack
• Reverse order solves topological sorting problem
• Back edges encountered?→ NOT a dag!

Example:

b a c d

e f g h
Efficiency: The same as that of DFS.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-18
Source Removal Algorithm
Source removal algorithm
Repeatedly identify and remove a source (a vertex with no
incoming edges) and all the edges incident to it until either
no vertex is left or there is no source among the remaining
vertices (not a dag)
Example: a b c d

e f g h

Efficiency: same as efficiency of the DFS-based algorithm, but

how would you identify a source? How do you remove a
source from the dag?
“Invert” the adjacency lists for each vertex to count the number of
incoming edges by going thru each adjacency list and counting the number
of times that each vertex appears in these lists. To remove a source,
decrement the count of each of its neighbors by one.
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-19
Decrease-by-Constant-Factor
Algorithms
In this variation of decrease-and-conquer, instance
size is reduced by the same factor (typically, 2)

Examples:
● Binary search and the method of bisection

● Exponentiation by squaring

● Multiplication à la russe (Russian peasant method)

● Fake-coin puzzle

● Josephus problem

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Exponentiation by Squaring
The problem: Compute an where n is a nonnegative
integer

The problem can be solved by applying recursively the

For even values of n
formulas:
a n = (a n/2 )2 if n > 0 and a 0 = 1
For odd values of n
a n = (a (n-1)/2 )2 a
Recurrence: M(n) = M( ⎣n/2⎦ ) + f(n), where f(n) = 1 or 2,
M(0) = 0
Master Theorem: M(n) ∈ Θ(log n) = Θ(b) where b =
⎡log2(n+1)⎤ A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 ed., Ch. 5
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. nd 5-21
 Russian Peasant Multiplication
The problem: Compute the product of two positive
integers

Can be solved by a decrease-by-half algorithm

based on the following formulas.
For even values of
n:
n * m = n * 2m
2

For odd values of n:

n*m = n – * 2m + m if n > 1 and m if

1
n=1
2
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-22
Example of Russian Peasant
Multiplication

Compute 20 * 26
n m
20 26
10 52
5 104 104
2 208 +
1 416 416

52
0
Note: Method reduces to adding m’s values
corresponding to
odd n’s.
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Fake-Coin Puzzle (simpler
version)
There are n identically looking coins one of which is
fake.
There is a balance scale but there are no weights;
the scale can tell whether two sets of coins weigh
the same and, if not, which of the two sets is
heavier (but not by how much, i.e. 3-way
comparison). Design an efficient algorithm for
detecting the fake coin. Assume that the fake
coin is known to be lighter than the genuine ones.

T(n) = log n
Decrease by factor 2 algorithm

T(n)
Decrease by factor 3 algorithm (Q3 on page 187 of
Levitin) A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 ed., Ch. 5
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. nd 5-24
Variable-Size-Decrease Algorithms
In the variable-size-decrease variation of decrease-and-conquer,
instance size reduction varies from one iteration to another

Examples:
● Euclid’s algorithm for greatest common divisor

● Partition-based algorithm for selection problem

● Interpolation search

● Some algorithms on binary search trees

● Nim and Nim-like games

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Euclid’s Algorithm
Euclid’s algorithm is based on repeated application
of equality
gcd(m, n) = gcd(n, m mod n)

Ex.: gcd(80,44) = gcd(44,36) = gcd(36, 8) = gcd(8,4) = gcd(4,0) = 4

One can prove that the size, measured by the first

number,
decreases at least by half after two consecutive
iterations.
Proof. Assume m > n, and consider m and m mod n.
Hence, T(n) ∈ O(log n)
Case 1: n <= m/2. m mod n < n <= m/2.
Case 2: n > m/2. m mod n = m-n < m/2.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-26
 Selection Problem
Find the k-th smallest element in a list of n numbers
● k = 1 or k = n

● median: k = ⎡n/2⎤
Example: 4, 1, 10, 9, 7, 12, 8, 2, 15 median = ?

The median is used in statistics as a measure of an

average
value of a sample. In fact, it is a better (more robust)
indicator
than the mean, which is used for the same purpose.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-27
 Digression: Post Office Location
Problem

Given n village locations along a straight highway,

where should a new post office be located to
minimize the average distance from the villages to
the post office?

The average!

In two dimensions with Manhattan

distance?
Linear programming!

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 Algorithms for the Selection
Problem
The sorting-based algorithm: Sort and return the k-th element
Efficiency (if sorted by mergesort): Θ(nlog n)

A faster algorithm is based on using the quicksort-like partition

of the list. Let s be a split position obtained by a partition
(using some pivot):
all are ≤ all are ≥
A[s] s A[s]

Assuming that the list is indexed from 1 to n:

If s = k, the problem is solved;
if s > k, look for the k-th smallest element in the left part;
if s < k, look for the (k-s)-th smallest element in the right part.

Note: The algorithm can simply continue until s = k.

Copyright © 2007 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved. A. Levitin “Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 nd ed., Ch. 5 5-29
Tracing the Median / Selection
Algorithm

Example: 4 1 10 9 7 12 8 2 15 Here: n = 9, k =
⎡9/2⎤ = 5

array index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
4 1 10 9 7 12 8 2 15
4 1 2 9 7 12 8 10 15
2 1 4 9 7 12 8 10 15 --- s=3 < k=5
9 7 12 8 10 15
9 7 8 12 10 15
8 7 9 12 10 15 --- s=6 > k=5
8 7
7 8 --- s=k=5
Solution: median is 8
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Efficiency of the Partition based
Algorithm

Average case (average split in the middle):

C(n) = C(n/2)+(n+1) C(n) ∈ Θ(n)

Worst case (degenerate split): C(n) ∈ Θ(n2)

A more sophisticated choice of the pivot leads to a

complicated algorithm with Θ(n) worst-case
efficiency. Details can be found in CLRS, Ch 9.3.

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 Interpolation Search
Searches a sorted array similar to binary search but
estimates location of the search key in A[l..r] by
using its value v. Specifically, the values of the
array’s elements are assumed to grow linearly
from A[l] to A[r] and the location of v is estimated
as the x-coordinate of the point on the straight
line through (l, A[l]) and (r, A[r]) whose y-
coordinate is v:

x = l + ⎣(v - A[l])(r - l)/(A[r] – A[l]

)⎦

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 Analysis of Interpolation
Search
● Efficiency
average case: C(n) < log2 log2 n + 1 (from “rounding
errors”)

worst case: C(n) = n

● Preferable to binary search only for VERY large

arrays and/or expensive comparisons

● Has a counterpart, the method of false position

(regula falsi), for solving equations in one unknown
(Sec. 12.4)

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 Binary Search Tree Algorithms
Several algorithms on BST requires recursive
processing of just one of its subtrees, e.g.,
● Searching
k
● Insertion of a new key
● Finding the smallest (or the largest) key

< >
k k

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 Searching in Binary Search
Tree
Algorithm BST(x, v)
//Searches for node with key equal to v in BST rooted at
node x
if x = NIL return -1
else if v = K(x) return x
else if v < K(x) return BST(left(x), v)
else return BST(right(x), v)

Efficiency
worst case: C(n) = n
average case: C(n) ≈ 2ln n ≈ 1.39log2 n, if the BST
was built from n random keys and v is chosen
randomly.
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 One-Pile Nim
There is a pile of n chips. Two players take turn by
removing from the pile at least 1 and at most m
chips. (The number of chips taken can vary from
move to move.) The winner is the player that takes
the last chip. Who wins the game – the player
moving first or second, if both player make the
best moves possible?

It’s a good idea to analyze this and similar games

“backwards”, i.e., starting with n = 0, 1, 2, …

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Partial Graph of One-Pile Nim with
m=4

Vertex numbers indicate n, the number of chips in

the pile. The losing positions for the player to move
are circled. Only winning moves from a winning
position are shown (in bold).
Generalization: The player moving first wins iff n is
not a
multiple of 5 (more generally, m+1); the
winningA.move
Levitin “Introductionis
to the to
Design &take
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n mod nd
Analysis of Algorithms,” 2 ed., Ch. 5 5 (n 5-37

mod (m+1))