Complexity Analysis (Part II)

• Asymptotic Complexity

• Big-O (asymptotic) Notation

• Big-O Computation Rules

• Proving Big-O Complexity

• How to determine complexity of code structures

 Asymptotic Complexity
• Finding the exact complexity, f(n) = number of basic
operations, of an algorithm is difficult.
• We approximate f(n) by a function g(n) in a way that
does not substantially change the magnitude of f(n).
--the function g(n) is sufficiently close to f(n) for large
values of the input size n.
• This "approximate" measure of efficiency is called
asymptotic complexity.
• Thus the asymptotic complexity measure does not
give the exact number of operations of an algorithm, but
it shows how that number grows with the size of the
input.
• This gives us a measure that will work for different
operating systems, compilers and CPUs.
 Big-O (asymptotic) Notation
• The most commonly used notation for specifying asymptotic
complexity is the big-O notation.
• The Big-O notation, O(g(n)), is used to give an upper bound (worst-
case) on a positive runtime function f(n) where n is the input size.

Definition of Big-O:
• Consider a function f(n) that is non-negative  n  0. We say that
“f(n) is Big-O of g(n)” i.e., f(n) = O(g(n)), if  n0  0 and a constant
c > 0 such that f(n)  cg(n),  n  n0
 Big-O (asymptotic) Notation
Implication of the definition:
• For all sufficiently large n, c *g(n) is an upper bound of
f(n)
Note: By the definition of Big-O:
f(n) = 3n + 4 is O(n)
it is also O(n2),
it is also O(n3),
...
it is also O(nn)
• However when Big-O notation is used, the function g in
the relationship f(n) is O(g(n)) is CHOOSEN TO BE AS
SMALL AS POSSIBLE.
– We call such a function g a tight asymptotic bound of f(n)
 Big-O (asymptotic) Notation
Some Big-O complexity classes in order of magnitude from smallest to highest:

O(1) Constant
O(log(n)) Logarithmic
O(n) Linear
O(n log(n)) n log n
O(nx) {e.g., O(n2), O(n3), etc} Polynomial

O(an) {e.g., O(1.6n), O(2n), etc} Exponential

O(n!) Factorial
O(nn)
Examples of Algorithms and their big-O complexity

Big-O Notation Examples of Algorithms

O(1) Push, Pop, Enqueue (if there is a tail reference),

Dequeue, Accessing an array element
O(log(n)) Binary search
O(n) Linear search
O(n log(n)) Heap sort, Quick sort (average), Merge sort
O(n2) Selection sort, Insertion sort, Bubble sort

O(n3) Matrix multiplication

O(2n) Towers of Hanoi
 Warnings about O-Notation
• Big-O notation cannot compare
algorithms in the same complexity class.
• Big-O notation only gives sensible
comparisons of algorithms in different
complexity classes when n is large .
• Consider two algorithms for same task:
Linear: f(n) = 1000 n
Quadratic: f'(n) = n2/1000
The quadratic one is faster for n < 1000000.
 Rules for using big-O
• For large values of input n , the constants and terms with lower
degree of n are ignored.

1. Multiplicative Constants Rule: Ignoring constant factors.

O(c f(n)) = O(f(n)), where c is a constant;
Example:
O(20 n3) = O(n3)
2. Addition Rule: Ignoring smaller terms.
If O(f(n)) < O(h(n)) then O(f(n) + h(n)) = O(h(n)).
Example:
O(n2 log n + n3) = O(n3)
O(2000 n3 + 2n ! + n800 + 10n + 27n log n + 5) = O(n !)
3. Multiplication Rule: O(f(n) * h(n)) = O(f(n)) * O(h(n))
Example:
O((n3 + 2n 2 + 3n log n + 7)(8n 2 + 5n + 2)) = O(n 5)
 Proving Big-O Complexity

To prove that f(n) is O(g(n)) we find any pair of values n0 and c that
satisfy:
f(n) ≤ c * g(n) for  n  n0
Note: The pair (n0, c) is not unique. If such a pair exists then there is
an infinite number of such pairs.

Example: Prove that f(n) = 3n2 + 5 is O(n2)

We try to find some values of n and c by solving the following
inequality:
3n2 + 5  cn2 OR 3 + 5/n2  c
(By putting different values for n, we get corresponding values for c)

n0 1 2 3 4 
c 8 4.25 3.55 3.3125 3
 Proving Big-O Complexity
Example:
Prove that f(n) = 3n2 + 4n log n + 10 is O(n2) by finding appropriate
values for c and n0
We try to find some values of n and c by solving the following inequality
3n2 + 4n log n + 10  cn2
OR 3 + 4 log n / n+ 10/n2  c

( We used Log of base 2, but another base can be used as well)

n0 1 2 3 4 

c 13 7.5 6.22 5.62 3

 How to determine complexity of code structures

Loops: for, while, and do-while:

Complexity is determined by the number of iterations in
the loop times the complexity of the body of the loop.
Examples:
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
sum = sum - i; O(n)

for (int i = 0; i < n * n; i++) O(n2)

sum = sum + i;

i=1;
while (i < n) {
sum = sum + i; O(log n)
i = i*2
}
 How to determine complexity of code structures
Nested Loops: Complexity of inner loop * complexity of outer loop.
Examples:
sum = 0
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
for(int j = 0; j < n; j++) O(n2)
sum += i * j ;

i = 1;
while(i <= n) {
j = 1;
while(j <= n){
statements of constant complexity O(n log n)
j = j*2;
}
i = i+1;
}
 How to determine complexity of code structures

Sequence of statements: Use Addition rule

O(s1; s2; s3; … sk) = O(s1) + O(s2) + O(s3) + … + O(sk)
= O(max(s1, s2, s3, . . . , sk))

Example:
for (int j = 0; j < n * n; j++)
sum = sum + j;
for (int k = 0; k < n; k++)
sum = sum - l;
System.out.print("sum is now ” + sum);

Complexity is O(n2) + O(n) +O(1) = O(n2)

 How to determine complexity of code structures
Switch: Take the complexity of the most expensive case
char key;
int[] X = new int[5];
int[][] Y = new int[10][10];
........
switch(key) {
case 'a':
for(int i = 0; i < X.length; i++) o(n)
sum += X[i];
break;
case 'b':
for(int i = 0; i < Y.length; j++)
for(int j = 0; j < Y[0].length; j++)
o(n2)
sum += Y[i][j];
break;
} //Overall
End ofComplexity:
switch block
o(n2)
 How to determine complexity of code structures
If Statement: Take the complexity of the most expensive case :
char key;
int[][] A = new int[5][5];
int[][] B = new int[5][5];
int[][] C = new int[5][5];
........
if(key == '+') {
for(int i = 0; i < n; i++)
for(int j = 0; j < n; j++)
C[i][j] = A[i][j] + B[i][j];
} // End of if block
O(n2) Overall
complexity
else if(key == 'x')
O(n3)
C = matrixMult(A, B);
O(n3)
else
System.out.println("Error! Enter '+' or 'x'!");
O(1)
 How to determine complexity of code structures

• Sometimes if-else statements must carefully be checked:

O(if-else) = O(Condition)+ Max[O(if), O(else)]

int[] integers = new int[10];

........
if(hasPrimes(integers) == true)
integers[0] = 20; O(1)
else
integers[0] = -20; O(1)

public boolean hasPrimes(int[] arr) {

for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
..........
.......... O(n)
} // End of hasPrimes()

O(if-else) = O(Condition) = O(n)

 How to determine complexity of code structures
• Note: Sometimes a loop may cause the if-else rule not to be
applicable. Consider the following loop:
while (n > 0) {
if (n % 2 = = 0) {
System.out.println(n);
n = n / 2;
} else{
System.out.println(n);
System.out.println(n);
n = n – 1;
}
}
The else-branch has more basic operations; therefore one may
conclude that the loop is O(n). However the if-branch dominates.
For example if n is 60, then the sequence of n is: 60, 30, 15, 14, 7,
6, 3, 2, 1, and 0. Hence the loop is logarithmic and its complexity is
O(log n)