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Python Recap - I: Madhavan Mukund

The document discusses algorithms for computing the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two numbers. It first provides definitions and examples of the GCD. It then presents an initial Python function that computes the GCD by finding all common factors and returning the largest. It subsequently improves this by eliminating the use of a list and instead tracking just the most recent common factor. The document notes both versions have the same time complexity proportional to the minimum of the two input numbers. It concludes by questioning if the algorithm can be made more efficient.

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Harsh Rawat
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39 views

Python Recap - I: Madhavan Mukund

The document discusses algorithms for computing the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two numbers. It first provides definitions and examples of the GCD. It then presents an initial Python function that computes the GCD by finding all common factors and returning the largest. It subsequently improves this by eliminating the use of a list and instead tracking just the most recent common factor. The document notes both versions have the same time complexity proportional to the minimum of the two input numbers. It concludes by questioning if the algorithm can be made more efficient.

Uploaded by

Harsh Rawat
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Python Recap – I

Madhavan Mukund
https://www.cmi.ac.in/~madhavan

Programming, Data Structures and Algorithms using Python


Week 1
Computing gcd
gcd(m, n) — greatest common divisor
Largest k that divides both m and n
gcd(8, 12) = 4
gcd(18, 25) = 1
Also hcf — highest common factor

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 2/4


Computing gcd
gcd(m, n) — greatest common divisor
Largest k that divides both m and n
gcd(8, 12) = 4
gcd(18, 25) = 1
Also hcf — highest common factor

gcd(m, n) always exsits


1 divides both m and n

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 2/4


Computing gcd
gcd(m, n) — greatest common divisor
Largest k that divides both m and n def gcd(m,n):
gcd(8, 12) = 4 cf = [] # List of common factors
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
gcd(18, 25) = 1
if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
Also hcf — highest common factor cf.append(i)
gcd(m, n) always exsits return(cf[-1])

1 divides both m and n

Computing gcd(m, n)
gcd(m, n) ≤ min(m, n)
Compute list of common factors from
1 to min(m, n)
Return the last such common factor
Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 2/4
Computing gcd

Points to note
def gcd(m,n):
Need to initialize cf for cf.append()
cf = [] # List of common factors
to work
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Variables (names) derive their type if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
from the value they hold cf.append(i)
return(cf[-1])

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 3/4


Computing gcd

Points to note
def gcd(m,n):
Need to initialize cf for cf.append()
cf = [] # List of common factors
to work
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Variables (names) derive their type if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
from the value they hold cf.append(i)
Control flow return(cf[-1])
Conditionals (if)
Loops (for)

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 3/4


Computing gcd

Points to note
def gcd(m,n):
Need to initialize cf for cf.append()
cf = [] # List of common factors
to work
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Variables (names) derive their type if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
from the value they hold cf.append(i)
Control flow return(cf[-1])
Conditionals (if)
Loops (for)

range(i,j) runs from i to j-1

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 3/4


Computing gcd

Points to note
def gcd(m,n):
Need to initialize cf for cf.append()
cf = [] # List of common factors
to work
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Variables (names) derive their type if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
from the value they hold cf.append(i)
Control flow return(cf[-1])
Conditionals (if)
Loops (for)

range(i,j) runs from i to j-1


List indices run from 0 to len(l) - 1
and backwards from -1 to -len(l)

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 3/4


Computing gcd

Eliminate the list


def gcd(m,n):
Only the last value of cf is important
cf = [] # List of common factors
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
cf.append(i)
return(cf[-1])

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 4/4


Computing gcd

Eliminate the list


def gcd(m,n):
Only the last value of cf is important
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Keep track of most recent common if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
factor (mrcf) mrcf = i
return(mrcf)

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 4/4


Computing gcd

Eliminate the list


def gcd(m,n):
Only the last value of cf is important
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Keep track of most recent common if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
factor (mrcf) mrcf = i
return(mrcf)
Recall that 1 is always a common
factor
No need to initialize mrcf

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 4/4


Computing gcd

Eliminate the list


def gcd(m,n):
Only the last value of cf is important
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Keep track of most recent common if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
factor (mrcf) mrcf = i
return(mrcf)
Recall that 1 is always a common
factor
def gcd(m,n):
No need to initialize mrcf cf = [] # List of common factors
Efficiency for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Both versions of gcd take time if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
proportional to min(m, n) cf.append(i)
return(cf[-1])

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 4/4


Computing gcd

Eliminate the list


def gcd(m,n):
Only the last value of cf is important
for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Keep track of most recent common if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
factor (mrcf) mrcf = i
return(mrcf)
Recall that 1 is always a common
factor
def gcd(m,n):
No need to initialize mrcf cf = [] # List of common factors
Efficiency for i in range(1,min(m,n)+1):
Both versions of gcd take time if (m%i) == 0 and (n%i) == 0:
proportional to min(m, n) cf.append(i)
return(cf[-1])
Can we do better?

Madhavan Mukund Python Recap – I PDSA using Python Week 1 4/4

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