Chapter 6

RecursionasaProblem
SolvingTechnique

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6-1

Backtracking
Backtracking
Astrategyforguessingatasolutionand
backingupwhenanimpasseisreached

Recursionandbacktrackingcanbe
combinedtosolveproblems

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6-2

The Eight Queens Problem

Problem
Placeeightqueensonthechessboardsothatno
queencanattackanyotherqueen

Strategy:guessatasolution
Thereare4,426,165,368waystoarrange8
queensonachessboardof64squares

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6-3

The Eight Queens Problem

Anobservationthateliminatesmanyarrangements
fromconsideration
Noqueencanresideinaroworacolumnthatcontains
anotherqueen
Now:only40,320arrangementsofqueenstobe
checkedforattacksalongdiagonals

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The Eight Queens Problem

Providingorganizationfortheguessingstrategy
Placequeensonecolumnatatime
Ifyoureachanimpasse,backtracktotheprevious
column

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6-5

The Eight Queens Problem

Figure 6-1
a) Five queens that cannot attack each other, but that can attack all of
column 6; b) backtracking to column 5 to try another square for the queen;
c) backtracking to column 4 to try another square for the queen and then considering
column 5 again
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6-6

The Eight Queens Problem

Arecursivealgorithmthatplacesaqueenina
column
Basecase
Iftherearenomorecolumnstoconsider
Youarefinished

Recursivestep
Ifyousuccessfullyplaceaqueeninthecurrentcolumn
Considerthenextcolumn

Ifyoucannotplaceaqueeninthecurrentcolumn
Youneedtobacktrack

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6-7

The Eight Queens Problem

Figure 6-2
A solution to the Eight Queens
problem

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6-8

Defining Languages
Alanguage
Asetofstringsofsymbols
Examples:English,Java
IfaJavaprogramisonelongstringofcharacters,the
languageJavaProgramsisdefinedas
JavaPrograms={stringsw:wisasyntacticallycorrect
Javaprogram}

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6-9

Defining Languages
Alanguagedoesnothavetobeaprogrammingor
acommunicationlanguage
Example
Thesetofalgebraicexpressions
AlgebraicExpressions={w:wisanalgebraic
expression}

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6-10

Defining Languages
Grammar
Statestherulesforformingthestringsinalanguage

Benefitofrecursivegrammars
Easeofwritingarecognitionalgorithmforthe
language
Arecognitionalgorithmdetermineswhetheragiven
stringisinthelanguage

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6-11

The Basics of Grammars

Symbolsusedingrammars
x|ymeansxory
xymeansxfollowedbyy
(Inxy,thesymbolmeansconcatenate,orappend)
<word>meansanyinstanceofwordthatthe
definitiondefines

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6-12

The Basics of Grammars

Javaidentifiers
AJavaidentifierbeginswithaletterandisfollowedby
zeroormorelettersanddigits

Figure 6-3
A syntax diagram for Java identifiers
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6-13

The Basics of Grammars

Javaidentifiers
Language
JavaIds={w:wisalegalJavaidentifier}
Grammar
<identifier>=<letter>|<identifier><letter>|<
identifier><digit>
<letter>=a|b||z|A|B||Z|_|$
<digit>=0|1||9

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6-14

The Basics of Grammars

Recognitionalgorithm
isId(w)
if (w is of length 1) {
if (w is a letter) {
return true
}
else {
return false
}
}
else if (the last character of w is a letter or a digit) {
return isId(w minus its last character)
}
else {
return false
}

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6-15

Two Simple Languages:

Palindromes
Astringthatreadsthesamefromlefttorightasit
doesfromrighttoleft
Examples:radar,deed
Language
Palindromes={w:wreadsthesamelefttorightas
righttoleft}

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6-16

Palindromes
Grammar
<pal>=emptystring|<ch>|a<pal>a|b<pal>b|
|Z<pal>Z
<ch>=a|b||z|A|B||Z

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6-17

Palindromes
Recognitionalgorithm
isPal(w)
if (w is the empty string or w is of length 1) {
return true
}
else if (ws first and last characters are the
same letter ) {
return isPal(w minus its first and last
characters)
}
else {
return false
}

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6-18

Strings of the form AnBn

AnBn
ThestringthatconsistsofnconsecutiveAsfollowed
bynconsecutiveBs

Language
L={w:wisoftheformAnBnforsomen0}

Grammar
<legalword>=emptystring|A<legalword>B

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6-19

Strings of the form AnBn

Recognitionalgorithm
isAnBn(w)
if (the length of w is zero) {
return true
}
else if (w begins with the character A and ends
with the character B) {
return isAnBn(w minus its first and last
characters)
}
else {
return false
}
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6-20

Algebraic Expressions
Threelanguagesforalgebraicexpressions
Infixexpressions
Anoperatorappearsbetweenitsoperands
Example:a+b

Prefixexpressions
Anoperatorappearsbeforeitsoperands
Example:+ab

Postfixexpressions
Anoperatorappearsafteritsoperands
Example:ab+
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6-21

Algebraic Expressions
Toconvertafullyparenthesizedinfixexpression
toaprefixform
Moveeachoperatortothepositionmarkedbyits
correspondingopenparenthesis
Removetheparentheses
Example
Infixexpression:((a+b)*c
Prefixexpression:*+abc

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6-22

Algebraic Expressions
Toconvertafullyparenthesizedinfixexpression
toapostfixform
Moveeachoperatortothepositionmarkedbyits
correspondingclosingparenthesis
Removetheparentheses
Example
Infixform:((a+b)*c)
Postfixform:ab+c*

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6-23

Algebraic Expressions
Prefixandpostfixexpressions
Neverneed
Precedencerules
Associationrules
Parentheses
Have
Simplegrammarexpressions
Straightforwardrecognitionandevaluation
algorithms

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6-24

Prefix Expressions
Grammar
<prefix>=<identifier>|<operator><prefix><prefix>
<operator>=+||*|/
<identifier>=a|b||z

Arecognitionalgorithm
isPre()
size = length of expression strExp
lastChar = endPre(0, size 1)
if (lastChar >= 0 and lastChar == size-1 {
return true
}
else {
return false
}

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6-25

Prefix Expressions
Analgorithmthatevaluatesaprefixexpression
evaluatePrefix(strExp)
ch = first character of expression strExp
Delete first character from strExp
if (ch is an identifier) {
return value of the identifier
}
else if (ch is an operator named op) {
operand1 = evaluatePrefix(strExp)
operand2 = evaluatePrefix(strExp)
return operand1 op operand2
}
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6-26

Postfix Expressions
Grammar
<postfix>=<identifier>|<postfix><postfix><operator>
<operator>=+||*|/
<identifier>=a|b||z

Athighlevel,analgorithmthatconvertsaprefix
expressiontopostfixform
if (exp is a single letter) {
return exp
}
else {
return postfix(prefix1) + postfix(prefix2) +
operator
}

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6-27

Postfix Expressions
Arecursivealgorithmthatconvertsaprefixexpressionto
postfixform
convert(pre)
ch = first character of pre
Delete first character of pre
if (ch is a lowercase letter) {
return ch as a string
}
else {
postfix1 = convert(pre)
postfix2 = convert(pre)
return postfix1 + postfix2 + ch
}

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6-28

Fully Parenthesized Expressions

Toavoidambiguity,infixnotationnormally
requires
Precedencerules
Rulesforassociation
Parentheses

Fullyparenthesizedexpressionsdonotrequire
Precedencerules
Rulesforassociation

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6-29

Fully Parenthesized Expressions

Fullyparenthesizedexpressions
Asimplegrammar
<infix>=<identifier>|(<infix><operator><
infix>)
<operator>=+||*|/
<identifier>=a|b||z
Inconvenientforprogrammers

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6-30

The Relationship Between

Recursion and Mathematical
Induction
Astrongrelationshipexistsbetweenrecursionand
mathematicalinduction
Inductioncanbeusedto

Provepropertiesaboutrecursivealgorithms
Provethatarecursivealgorithmperformsacertain
amountofwork

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6-31

The Correctness of the Recursive

Factorial Method
Pseudocodeforarecursivemethodthatcomputes
thefactorialofanonnegativeintegern
fact(n)
if (n is 0) {
return 1
}
else {
return n * fact(n 1)
}

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6-32

The Correctness of the Recursive

Factorial Method
Inductiononncanprovethatthemethodfact
returnsthevalues
fact(0)=0!=1
fact(n)=n!=n*(n1)*(n2)**1ifn>0

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6-33

The Cost of Towers of Hanoi

SolutiontotheTowersofHanoiproblem
solveTowers(count, source, destination, spare)
if (count is 1) {
Move a disk directly from source to destination
}
else {
solveTowers(count-1, source, spare, destination)
solveTowers(1, source, destination, spare)
solveTowers(count-1, spare, destination, source)
}

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6-34

The Cost of Towers of Hanoi

Question
IfyoubeginwithNdisks,howmanymovesdoes
solveTowersmaketosolvetheproblem?

Let
moves(N)bethenumberofmovesmadestartingwith
Ndisks

WhenN=1
moves(1)=1

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6-35

The Cost of Towers of Hanoi

WhenN>1
moves(N)=moves(N1)+moves(1)+moves(N1)

Recurrencerelationforthenumberofmovesthat
solveTowersrequiresforNdisks
moves(1)=1
moves(N)=2*moves(N1)+1

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ifN>1

6-36

The Cost of Towers of Hanoi

Aclosedformformulaforthenumberofmoves
thatsolveTowersrequiresforNdisks
moves(N)=2N1,forallN1
InductiononNcanprovidetheproofthat
moves(N)=2N1

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6-37

Summary
Backtrackingisasolutionstrategythatinvolves
bothrecursionandasequenceofguessesthat
ultimatelyleadtoasolution
Agrammarisadevicefordefiningalanguage
Alanguageisasetofstringsofsymbols
Arecognitionalgorithmforalanguagecanoftenbe
baseddirectlyonthegrammarofthelanguage
Grammarsarefrequentlyrecursive

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6-38

Summary
Differentlanguagesofalgebraicexpressionshave
theirrelativeadvantagesanddisadvantages
Prefixexpressions
Postfixexpressions
Infixexpressions

Acloserelationshipexistsbetweenmathematical
inductionandrecursion
Inductioncanbeusedtoprovepropertiesabouta
recursivealgorithm
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6-39