Counting Sort

Counting Sort
• Assumptions:
– Sort n integers which are in the range [0 ... r]
– r is in the order of n, that is, r=O(n)
• Idea:
– For each element x, find the number of elements  x
– Place x into its correct position in the output array

output array

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Step 1

(i.e., frequencies) 3
Step 2

(i.e., cumulative sums)

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 Algorithm
• Start from the last element of A
• Place A[i] at its correct place in the output array
• Decrease C[A[i]] by one

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 Example
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5

A 2 5 3 0 2 3 0 3 C 2 2 4 7 7 8
0 1 2 3 4 5
(cumulative sums)
C 2 0 2 3 0 1
(frequencies)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

B 3 B 0 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

C 2 2 4 6 7 8 C 1 2 4 6 7 8

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

B 0 3 3 B 0 2 3 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

C 1 2 4 5 7 8 C 1 2 3 5 7 8
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 Example (cont.)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A 2 5 3 0 2 3 0 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

B 0 0 2 3 3 B 0 0 2 3 3 3 5
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

C 0 2 3 5 7 8 C 0 2 3 4 7 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

B 0 0 2 3 3 3 B 0 0 2 2 3 3 3 5
0 1 2 3 4 5

C 0 2 3 4 7 8

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 COUNTING-SORT
1 j n

A
Alg.: COUNTING-SORT(A, B, n, k) 0 k

1. for i ← 0 to r C
2. do C[ i ] ← 0 B
1 n

3. for j ← 1 to n
4. do C[A[ j ]] ← C[A[ j ]] + 1
5. C[i] contains the number of elements
equal to i
6. for i ← 1 to r
7. do C[ i ] ← C[ i ] + C[i -1]
8. C[i] contains the number of elements ≤ i
9. for j ← n downto 1
10. do B[C[A[ j ]]] ← A[ j ]
11. C[A[ j ]] ← C[A[ j ]] - 1 8
 Analysis of Counting Sort
Alg.: COUNTING-SORT(A, B, n, k)
1. for i ← 0 to r (r)
2. do C[ i ] ← 0
3. for j ← 1 to n
(n)
4. do C[A[ j ]] ← C[A[ j ]] + 1
5. C[i] contains the number of elements equal to i
6. for i ← 1 to r
(r)
7. do C[ i ] ← C[ i ] + C[i -1]
8. C[i] contains the number of elements ≤ i
9. for j ← n downto 1
10. do B[C[A[ j ]]] ← A[ j ] (n)
11. C[A[ j ]] ← C[A[ j ]] - 1
Overall time: (n + r) 9
 Analysis of Counting Sort

• Overall time: (n + r)

• In practice we use COUNTING sort when r =

O(n)

 running time is (n)

• Counting sort is stable

• Counting sort is not in place sort

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 Bucket Sort
• Assumption:
– the input is generated by a random process that distributes
elements uniformly over [0, 1)
• Idea:
– Divide [0, 1) into n equal-sized buckets
– Distribute the n input values into the buckets
– Sort each bucket (e.g., using quicksort)
– Go through the buckets in order, listing elements in each one

• Input: A[1 . . n], where 0 ≤ A[i] < 1 for all i

• Output: elements A[i] sorted
• Auxiliary array: B[0 . . n - 1] of linked lists, each list
initially empty
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 Example - Bucket Sort
A 1 .78 B 0 /

2 .17 1 .17 .12 /

3 .39 2 .26 .21 .23 /

4 .26 3 .39 /

5 .72 4 /

6 .94 5 /

7 .21 6 .68 /

8 .12 7 .78 .72 /

9 .23 8 /
10 .68 9 .94 /
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 Example - Bucket Sort
.12 .17 .21 .23 .26 .39 .68 .72 .78 .94 /

0 /

1 .12 .17 /

2 .21 .23 .26 /

3 .39 /

4 /

5 /

6 .68 /

7 .72 .78 /
Concatenate the lists from
8 / 0 to n – 1 together, in order
9 .94 / 13
 Correctness of Bucket Sort
• Consider two elements A[i], A[ j]
• Assume without loss of generality that A[i] ≤ A[j]
• Then nA[i] ≤ nA[j]
– A[i] belongs to the same bucket as A[j] or to a bucket
with a lower index than that of A[j]
• If A[i], A[j] belong to the same bucket:
– sorting puts them in the proper order
• If A[i], A[j] are put in different buckets:
– concatenation of the lists puts them in the proper order
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 Analysis of Bucket Sort
Alg.: BUCKET-SORT(A, n)

for i ← 1 to n O(n)

do insert A[i] into list B[nA[i]]

for i ← 0 to n - 1
(n)
do sort list B[i] with quicksort sort

concatenate lists B[0], B[1], . . . , B[n -1]

O(n)
together in order

return the concatenated lists

(n)
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