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Chapter 5 - Greedy (Introduction)

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8 views11 pages

Chapter 5 - Greedy (Introduction)

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bbtmk.fm
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter # 5

Lecture # 1

Greedy Technique

1. Definition of Greedy Technique.


2. Applications of greedy technique:

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Optimization problems
• An optimization problem:
– Given a problem instance, a set of constraints and an
objective function.
– Find a feasible solution for the given instance for which the
objective function has an optimal value either maximum or
minimum depending on the problem being solved.
• A feasible solution satisfies the problem’s constraints
• The constraints specify the limitations on the required solutions.
• An optimization problem is one in which you want to find, not
just a solution, but the best solution

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


An Optimization problem is one in which, we are given a set of
input values, which are required to be either maximized or
minimized w. r. t. some constraints or conditions.

# In optimization problems, we have many possible


solutions.
# Each solution has a value associated with it.
# We want a solution with the optimal (min or max) value.
# We say “a solution,” not “the solution,” because there may
be more than 1 solution with the same, best value.

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Greedy Algorithms

The solution is constructed through a sequence of steps.


At each step the choice must be locally optimal.

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Greedy Algorithms
In general, greedy algorithms have five components:
1.A candidate set, from which a solution is created ,
2.A selection function, which chooses the best candidate to be
added to the solution,
3.A feasibility function, that is used to determine if a candidate
can be used to contribute to a solution,
4.An objective function, which assigns a value to a solution, or a
partial solution, and
5.A solution function, which will indicate when we have
discovered a complete solution

 In some cases such a strategy is guaranteed to offer optimal


solutions, and in some other cases it may provide a compromise
that produces acceptable approximations.
04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig
Pseudo-code for Greedy Algorithms

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Pseudo-code for Greedy Algorithms

chooses a candidate based on a local


selection criteria, removes it from
candidate, and returns its value. checks whether adding the selected
value to the current solution can
result in a feasible solution (no
constraints are violated).

checks whether the


problem is solved.

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Characteristics of greedy algorithm
1.Used to solve optimization problem.
2. Always makes the choice that looks best at the
moment.
That is, it makes a locally optimal choice in the
hope that this choice will lead to a overall globally
optimal solution.
5. Once any choice of input from C is rejected then it
never considered again.
6. Do not always yield an optimal solution.

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


Example: Counting money
• Suppose you want to count out a certain amount of money, using
the fewest possible bills and coins
• A greedy algorithm would do this would be:
At each step, take the largest possible bill or coin that does not
overshoot
• Set of coins C={1, 5, 10}, and amount of money n=15.
Coins: 10, 5  optimal (two coins)

• Set of coins C={1, 7, 10}, and amount of money n=15.


Coins: 10, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1  not optimal . Number of coins is 6
we can construct another sequence of coins with length 3: 7, 7 ,1

• Set of coins C={5, 7, 10}, and amount of money n=13.


Coins: 10  no solution

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


– Example: To make $6.39, you can choose:
• a $5 bill
• a $1 bill, to make $6
• a 25¢ coin, to make $6.25
• A 10¢ coin, to make $6.35
• four 1¢ coins, to make $6.39
• For US money, the greedy algorithm always gives the
optimum solution.

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig


A failure of the greedy algorithm
• In some (fictional) monetary system, “krons” come in 1 kron, 7
kron, and 10 kron coins
• Using a greedy algorithm to count out 15 krons, you would get
– A 10 kron piece
– Five 1 kron pieces, for a total of 15 krons
– This requires six coins
• A better solution would be to use two 7 kron pieces and one 1
kron piece
– This only requires three coins
• The greedy algorithm results in a solution, but not in an optimal
solution

04:04 Dr. Hazem M. Bahig

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