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12-Algorithms Summary

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12-Algorithms Summary

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singh.myyyra
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DOUG LLOYD: So in CS50 we learned about a variety of sorting and searching

algorithms. And sometimes it can be a little tricky to keep track of what algorithm
does what. We've really only skimmed the surface too, there are many other
searching and sorting algorithms. So in this video let's just take a few minutes to
try and distill each algorithm down to its core elements so you can remember the
most important information about them and be able to articulate the differences, if
necessary.

The first is selection sort. The basic idea behind selection sort is find the
smallest unsorted element in an array and swap it with the first unsorted element
of that array. We said that the worst-case run time of that was n squared. And if
you want to recall why, take a look at the selection sort video. The best-case run
time is also n squared.

Bubble sort, the idea behind that one is to swap adjacent pairs. So that's the key
that helps you remember the difference here. Selection sort is, so far, find the
smallest-- bubble sort is swap adjacent pairs. We swap adjacent pairs of elements
if they are out of order, which effectively bubbles larger elements to the right,
and at the same time it also begins to move smaller elements to the left. The
worst-case case run time of bubble sort is n squared. The best-case run time of
bubble sort is n. Because in that situation we don't actually-- we might not need
to make any swaps at all. We only have to make one pass across all n elements.

In insertion sort, the basic idea here is shifting. That's the keyword for
insertion sort. We're going to step once through the array from left to right. And
as we do, we're going to shift elements we've already seen to make room for smaller
ones that need to fit somewhere back in that sorted portion. So we build the sorted
array one element at a time, left to right, and we shift things to make room. The
worst-case run time of insertion sort is n squared. The best-case run time is n.

Merge sort-- the keyword here is split and merge. We split the full array, whether
it's six elements, eight elements, 10,000 elements-- we split it down by half, by
half, by half, until we have under array of n one element arrays. A set of n one
element arrays. So we started with one 1,000-element array, and we get to the point
where we have 1,000 one-element arrays. Then we begin to merge those sub arrays
back together in the correct order. So we take two one-element arrays and create a
two-element array. We take two two-element arrays and create a four-element array
and so on and so on until we've again rebuilt one n element array.

The worst-case run time of merge sort is n times log n. We have n elements, but
this recombining process takes log n steps to get back to a full array. The best
case run time is also n log n because this process doesn't really care whether the
array was sorted or not to start with. The process is the same, there's no way to
short circuit things. So n log n in the worst case, n log n in the best case.

We talked about two searching algorithms. So linear search is about iterating. We


proceed across the array once, from left to right, trying to find the number that
we're looking for. The worst-case run time is big O of n. It might take us
iterating across every single element to find the element we're looking for, either
in the last position, or not at all. But we can't confirm that until we've looked
at everything. m the best-case, we find immediately. The best-case run time of
linear search is omega of 1.

Lastly, there was binary search, which requires assorted array. Remember that's a
very important consideration when working with binary search. It's a prerequisite
to using it-- the array that you're looking through must be sorted. Otherwise, the
keyword is divide and conquer. Split the array into half and eliminate half of the
elements every time as you proceed through. Because of this divide and conquer and
splitting things in half approach, the worst-case run time of binary search is log
n, which is substantially better than linear search's n. The best-case run time is
still one.

We might find it immediately the first time we make a division, but, again,
remember that although binary search is substantially better than linear search by
virtue of being log n versus n, you might have to go through the work of sorting
your array first, which might make it less effective depending on the size of the
iterating sorted.

I'm Doug Lloyd, this is CS50.

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