algorithm_lecture 07_LCS
algorithm_lecture 07_LCS
Dynamic programming
Longest Common Subsequence
01/21/25 1
Longest Common Subsequence (LCS)
01/21/25 2
LCS Algorithm
• if |X| = m, |Y| = n, then there are 2m
subsequences of x; we must compare each
with Y (n comparisons)
• So the running time of the brute-force
algorithm is O(n 2m)
• Notice that the LCS problem has optimal
substructure: solutions of subproblems are
parts of the final solution.
• Subproblems: “find LCS of pairs of prefixes
of X and Y”
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LCS Algorithm
• First we’ll find the length of LCS. Later we’ll
modify the algorithm to find LCS itself.
• Define Xi, Yj to be the prefixes of X and Y of
length i and j respectively
• Define c[i,j] to be the length of LCS of Xi and
Yj
• Then the length of LCS of X and Y will be
c[m,n] c[i 1, j 1] 1 if x[i ] y[ j ],
c[i, j ]
max(c[i, j 1], c[i 1, j ]) otherwise
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LCS recursive solution
c[i 1, j 1] 1 if x[i ] y[ j ],
c[i, j ]
max(c[i, j 1], c[i 1, j ]) otherwise
01/21/25
smaller strings Xi-1 and Yi-1 , plus 1 6
LCS recursive solution
c[i 1, j 1] 1 if x[i ] y[ j ],
c[i, j ]
max(c[i, j 1], c[i 1, j ]) otherwise
01/21/25
Why not just take the length of LCS(X i-1, Yj-1) ? 7
LCS Length Algorithm
LCS-Length(X, Y)
1. m = length(X) // get the # of symbols in X
2. n = length(Y) // get the # of symbols in Y
3. for i = 1 to m c[i,0] = 0 // special case: Y0
4. for j = 1 to n c[0,j] = 0 // special case: X0
5. for i = 1 to m // for all Xi
6. for j = 1 to n // for all Yj
7. if ( Xi == Yj )
8. c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
9. else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
10. return c
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LCS Example
We’ll see how LCS algorithm works on the
following example:
• X = ABCB
• Y = BDCAB
LCS(X, Y) = BCB
X=AB C B
01/21/25 Y= BDCAB 9
ABCB
LCS Example (0) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi
A
1
2 B
3 C
4 B
X = ABCB; m = |X| = 4
Y = BDCAB; n = |Y| = 5
Allocate array c[5,4]
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ABCB
LCS Example (1) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0
2 B
0
3 C 0
4 B 0
for i = 1 to m c[i,0] = 0
for j = 1 to n c[0,j] = 0
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ABCB
LCS Example (2) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0
2 B
0
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 12
ABCB
LCS Example (3) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0
2 B
0
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
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ABCB
LCS Example (4) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1
2 B
0
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 14
ABCB
LCS Example (5) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
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ABCB
LCS Example (6) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
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ABCB
LCS Example (7) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 17
ABCB
LCS Example (8) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 18
ABCB
LCS Example (10) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
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ABCB
LCS Example (11) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 20
ABCB
LCS Example (12) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2 2 2
4 B 0
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 21
ABCB
LCS Example (13) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2 2 2
4 B 0 1
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 22
ABCB
LCS Example (14) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2 2 2
4 B 0 1 1 2 2
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
01/21/25 23
ABCB
LCS Example (15) BDCAB
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2 2 2
4 B 0 1 1 2 2 3
if ( Xi == Yj )
c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] + 1
else c[i,j] = max( c[i-1,j], c[i,j-1] )
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LCS Algorithm Running Time
O(m*n)
since each c[i,j] is calculated in
constant time, and there are m*n
elements in the array
01/21/25 25
How to find actual LCS
• So far, we have just found the length of LCS,
but not LCS itself.
• We want to modify this algorithm to make it
output Longest Common Subsequence of X
and Y
Each c[i,j] depends on c[i-1,j] and c[i,j-1]
or c[i-1, j-1]
For each c[i,j] we can say how it was acquired:
2 2 For example, here
2 3 c[i,j] = c[i-1,j-1] +1 = 2+1=3
01/21/25 26
How to find actual LCS - continued
• Remember that
c[i 1, j 1] 1 if x[i ] y[ j ],
c[i, j ]
max(c[i, j 1], c[i 1, j ]) otherwise
01/21/25 28
Finding LCS (2)
j 0 1 2 3 4 5
i Yj B D C A B
0 Xi 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
1 0 0 0 0 1 1
2 B
0 1 1 1 1 2
3 C 0 1 1 2 2 2
4 B 0 1 1 2 2 3
LCS (reversed order): B C B
LCS (straight order): B C B
01/21/25 (this string turned out to be a palindrome) 29