Recurrence Relations

Week 5

1
Analysis of Recursive Algorithms
 What is a recurrence relation?

 Forming Recurrence Relations

 Solving Recurrence Relations

 Analysis Of Recursive Factorial

 Analysis Of Recursive Selection Sort

 Analysis Of Recursive Binary Search

 Analysis Of Recursive Towers of Hanoi

 Analysis Of Recursive Fibonacci

 Simplified Master Theorem

2
 What is a recurrence relation?
 A recurrence relation, T(n), is a recursive function of an integer variable n.

 Like all recursive functions, it has one or more recursive cases and one or more base
cases.

 Example:

 The portion of the definition that does not contain T is called the base case of the
recurrence relation; the portion that contains T is called the recurrent or recursive
case.

 Recurrence relations are useful for expressing the running times (i.e., the number of
basic operations executed) of recursive algorithms

 The specific values of the constants such as a, b, and c (in the above recurrence) are
important in determining the exact solution to the recurrence. Often however we are
only concerned with finding an asymptotic upper bound on the solution. We call such a
bound an asymptotic solution to the recurrence.

3
Forming Recurrence Relations
 For a given recursive method, the base case and the recursive case of its recurrence relation
correspond directly to the base case and the recursive case of the method.
 Example 1: Write the recurrence relation for the following method:
public void f (int n) {
if (n > 0) {
System.out.println(n);
f(n-1);
}
}

 The base case is reached when n = = 0. The method performs one comparison. Thus, the number of
operations when n = = 0, T(0), is some constant a.
 When n > 0, the method performs two basic operations and then calls itself, using ONE recursive
call, with a parameter n – 1.
 Therefore the recurrence relation is:
T(0) = a for some constant a
T(n) = b + T(n – 1) for some constant b
• In General, T(n) is usually a sum of various choices of T(m ), the cost of the recursive
subproblems, plus the cost of the work done outside the recursive calls:
T(n ) = aT(f(n)) + bT(g(n)) + . . . + c(n)
where a and b are the number of subproblems, f(n) and g(n) are subproblem sizes, and
c(n) is the cost of the work done outside the recursive calls [Note: c(n) may be a constant] 4
Forming Recurrence Relations (Cont’d)
 Example 2: Write the recurrence relation for the following method:

public int g(int n) {

if (n == 1)
return 2;
else
return 3 * g(n / 2) + g( n / 2) + 5;
}

 The base case is reached when n == 1. The method performs one comparison and
one return statement. Therefore, T(1), is some constant c.

 When n > 1, the method performs TWO recursive calls, each with the parameter n /
2, and some constant # of basic operations.

 Hence, the recurrence relation is:

T(1) = c for some constant c
T(n) = b + 2T(n / 2) for some constant b

5
Forming Recurrence Relations (Cont’d)
 Example 3: Write the recurrence relation for the following method:

long fibonacci (int n) { // Recursively calculates Fibonacci number

if( n == 1 || n == 2)
return 1;
else
return fibonacci(n – 1) + fibonacci(n – 2);
}

 The base case is reached when n == 1 or n == 2. The method performs one

comparison and one return statement. Therefore each of T(1) and T(2) is some
constant c.

 When n > 2, the method performs TWO recursive calls, one with the parameter n -
1 , another with parameter n – 2, and some constant # of basic operations.

 Hence, the recurrence relation is:

T(n) = c if n = 1 or n = 2
T(n) = T(n – 1) + T(n – 2) + b if n > 2

6
Forming Recurrence Relations (Cont’d)
 Example 4: Write the recurrence relation for the following method:
long power (long x, long n) {
if(n == 0)
return 1;
else if(n == 1)
return x;
else if ((n % 2) == 0)
return power (x, n/2) * power (x, n/2);
else
return x * power (x, n/2) * power (x, n/2);
}

 The base case is reached when n == 0 or n == 1. The method performs one comparison and
one return statement. ThereforeT(0) and T(1) is some constant c.

 At every step the problem size reduces to half the size. When the power is an odd number, an
additional multiplication is involved. To work out time complexity, let us consider the worst
case, that is we assume that at every step an additional multiplication is needed. Thus total
number of operations T(n) will reduce to number of operations for n/2, that is T(n/2) with
seven additional basic operations (the odd power case)

 Hence, the recurrence relation is:

T(n) = c if n = 0 or n = 1
T(n) = 2T(n /2) + b if n > 2

7
Solving Recurrence Relations
 To solve a recurrence relation T(n) we need to derive a form of
T(n) that is not a recurrence relation. Such a form is called a
closed form of the recurrence relation.

 There are five methods to solve recurrence relations that

represent the running time of recursive methods:
 Iteration method (unrolling and summing)
 Substitution method (Guess the solution and verify by induction)
 Recursion tree method
 Master theorem (Master method)
 Using Generating functions or Characteristic equations

 In this course, we will use the Iteration method and a

simplified Master theorem.

8
Solving Recurrence Relations -Iteration method
 Steps:
 Expand the recurrence
 Express the expansion as a summation by plugging the
recurrence back into itself until you see a pattern.
 Evaluate the summation
 In evaluating the summation one or more of the
following summation formulae may be used:
• Special Cases of Geometric Series:
 Arithmetic series:

 Geometric Series:

9
Solving Recurrence Relations - Iteration method (Cont’d)

 Harmonic Series:

 Others:

10
Analysis Of Recursive Factorial method
 Example1: Form and solve the recurrence relation for the
running time of factorial method and hence determine
its big-O complexity:
long factorial (int n) {
if (n == 0)
return 1;
else
return n * factorial (n – 1);
}
T(0) = c (1)
T(n) = b + T(n - 1) (2)
= b + b + T(n - 2) by subtituting T(n – 1) in (2)
= b +b +b + T(n - 3) by substituting T(n – 2) in (2)
…
= kb + T(n - k)
The base case is reached when n – k = 0  k = n, we then have:
T(n) = nb + T(n - n)
= bn + T(0)
= bn + c
Therefore the method factorial is O(n)
11
Analysis Of Recursive Selection Sort
public static void selectionSort(int[] x) {
selectionSort(x, x.length - 1);
}

private static void selectionSort(int[] x, int n) {

int minPos;
if (n > 0) {
minPos = findMinPos(x, n);
swap(x, minPos, n);
selectionSort(x, n - 1);
}
}

private static int findMinPos (int[] x, int n) {

int k = n;
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
if(x[i] < x[k]) k = i;
return k;
}

private static void swap(int[] x, int minPos, int n) {

int temp=x[n]; x[n]=x[minPos]; x[minPos]=temp;
}

12
Analysis Of Recursive Selection Sort (Cont’d)
findMinPos is O(n), and swap is O(1), therefore the
recurrence relation for the
running time of the selectionSort method is:
T(0) = a (1)
T(n) = T(n – 1) + n + c if n > 0 (2)
= [T(n-2) +(n-1) + c] + n + c = T(n-2) + (n-1) + n + 2c by substituting T(n-1) in (2)
= [T(n-3) + (n-2) + c] +(n-1) + n + 2c= T(n-3) + (n-2) + (n-1) + n + 3c by substituting T(n-2) in (2)
= T(n-4) + (n-3) + (n-2) + (n-1) + n + 4c
= ……
= T(n-k) + (n-k + 1) + (n-k + 2) + …….+ n + kc
The base case is reached when n – k = 0  k = n, we then have :

Therefore, Recursive Selection Sort is O(n2) 13

Analysis Of Recursive Binary Search
public int binarySearch (int target, int[] array,
int low, int high) {
if (low > high)
return -1;
else {
int middle = (low + high)/2;
if (array[middle] == target)
return middle;
else if(array[middle] < target)
return binarySearch(target, array, middle + 1, high);
else
return binarySearch(target, array, low, middle - 1);
}
}

 The recurrence relation for the running time of the method is:
T(1) = a if n = 1 (one element array)
T(n) = T(n / 2) + b if n > 1

14
Analysis Of Recursive Binary Search (Cont’d)
Without loss of generality, assume n, the problem size, is a multiple of 2, i.e., n = 2k
Expanding:
T(1) = a (1)
T(n) = T(n / 2) + b (2)
= [T(n / 22) + b] + b = T (n / 22) + 2b by substituting T(n/2) in (2)
= [T(n / 23) + b] + 2b = T(n / 23) + 3b by substituting T(n/22) in (2)
= ……..
= T( n / 2k) + kb

The base case is reached when n / 2k = 1  n = 2k  k = log2 n, we then

have:

T(n) = T(1) + b log2 n

= a + b log2 n

Therefore, Recursive Binary Search is O(log n)

15
Analysis Of Recursive Towers of Hanoi Algorithm

public static void hanoi(int n, char from, char to, char temp){
if (n == 1)
System.out.println(from + " --------> " + to);
else{
hanoi(n - 1, from, temp, to);
System.out.println(from + " --------> " + to);
hanoi(n - 1, temp, to, from);
}
}

 The recurrence relation for the running time of the method

hanoi is:
T(n) = a if n = 1
T(n) = 2T(n - 1) + b if n > 1

16
Analysis Of Recursive Towers of Hanoi Algorithm (Cont’d)
Expanding:
T(1) = a (1)
T(n) = 2T(n – 1) + b if n > 1 (2)
= 2[2T(n – 2) + b] + b = 22 T(n – 2) + 2b + b by substituting T(n – 1) in (2)
= 22 [2T(n – 3) + b] + 2b + b = 23 T(n – 3) + 22b + 2b + b by substituting T(n-2) in (2)
= 23 [2T(n – 4) + b] + 22b + 2b + b = 24 T(n – 4) + 23 b + 22b + 21b + 20b by substituting
T(n – 3) in (2)
= ……
= 2k T(n – k) + b[2k- 1 + 2k– 2 + . . . 21 + 20]

The base case is reached when n – k = 1  k = n – 1, we then have:

Therefore, The method hanoi is O(2n)

17
Analysis Of Recursive Fibonacci
long fibonacci (int n) { // Recursively calculates Fibonacci number
if( n == 1 || n == 2)
return 1;
else
return fibonacci(n – 1) + fibonacci(n – 2);
}

T(n) = c if n = 1 or n = 2 (1)
T(n) = T(n – 1) + T(n – 2) + b if n > 2 (2)

We determine a lower bound on T(n):

Expanding: T(n) = T(n - 1) + T(n - 2) + b

≥ T(n - 2) + T(n-2) + b
= 2T(n - 2) + b
= 2[T(n - 3) + T(n - 4) + b] + b by substituting T(n - 2) in (2)
 2[T(n - 4) + T(n - 4) + b] + b
= 22T(n - 4) + 2b + b
= 22[T(n - 5) + T(n - 6) + b] + 2b + b by substituting T(n - 4) in (2)
≥ 23T(n – 6) + (22 + 21 + 20)b
...
 2kT(n – 2k) + (2k-1 + 2k-2 + . . . + 21 + 20)b
= 2kT(n – 2k) + (2k – 1)b
The base case is reached when n – 2k = 2  k = (n - 2) / 2
Hence T(n) ≥ 2 (n – 2) / 2 T(2) + [2 (n - 2) / 2 – 1]b
= (b + c)2 (n – 2) / 2 – b
= [(b + c) / 2]*(2)n/2 – b  Recursive Fibonacci is exponential
18
Master Theorem (Master Method)
 The master method provides an estimate of the growth rate of the solution for recurrences of the
form:

where a ≥ 1, b > 1 and the overhead function f(n) > 0

 If T(n) is interpreted as the number of steps needed to execute an algorithm for an input of size n,
this recurrence corresponds to a “divide and conquer” algorithm, in which a problem of size n is
divided into a sub-problems of size n / b, where a, b are positive constants:

Divide-and-conquer algorithm:
• divide the problem into a number of subproblems
• conquer the subproblems (solve them)
• combine the subproblem solutions to get the solution to the original problem
Example: Merge Sort
• divide the n-element sequence to be sorted into two n/2- element sequences.
• conquer the subproblems recursively using merge sort.
• combine the resulting two sorted n/2-element sequences by merging 19
Simplified Master Theorem
 The Simplified Master Method for Solving Recurrences:

 Consider recurrences of the form:

T(1) = 1
T(n) = aT(n/b) + knc + h

for constants a ≥ 1, b > 1, c  0, k ≥ 1, and h  0 then:

if a > bc
T(n)  O(n log b ) a

c if a = bc
T(n)  O(n log n)

if a < bc
T(n)  O(n c )

• Note: Since k and h do not affect the result, they are sometimes not included
in the above recurrence
20
Simplified Master Theorem (Cont’d)
Example1: Find the big-Oh running time of the following recurrence. Use the Master
Theorem:

Solution: a = 3, b = 4, c = ½  a > bc  Case 1

Hence T(n) is O(n log 4 3 )

Example2: Find the big-Oh running time of the following recurrence. Use the Master
Theorem:
T(1) = 1
T(n) = 2T(n / 2) + n
Solution: a = 2, b = 2, c = 1  a = bc  Case 2
Hence T(n) is O(n log n)

Example3: Find the big-Oh running time of the following recurrence. Use the Master
Theorem:
T(1) = 1
T(n) = 4T(n / 2) + kn3 + h where k ≥ 1 and h  1
Solution: a = 4, b = 2, c = 3  a < bc  Case 3
Hence T(n) is O(n3) 21