Methods in Algorithmic Analysis / Edition 1

by Vladimir A. Dobrushkin

Overview

Explores the Impact of the Analysis of Algorithms on Many Areas within and beyond Computer Science
A flexible, interactive teaching format enhanced by a large selection of examples and exercises

Developed from the author’s own graduate-level course, Methods in Algorithmic Analysis presents numerous theories, techniques, and methods used for analyzing algorithms. It exposes students to mathematical techniques and methods that are practical and relevant to theoretical aspects of computer science.

After introducing basic mathematical and combinatorial methods, the text focuses on various aspects of probability, including finite sets, random variables, distributions, Bayes’ theorem, and Chebyshev inequality. It explores the role of recurrences in computer science, numerical analysis, engineering, and discrete mathematics applications. The author then describes the powerful tool of generating functions, which is demonstrated in enumeration problems, such as probabilistic algorithms, compositions and partitions of integers, and shuffling. He also discusses the symbolic method, the principle of inclusion and exclusion, and its applications. The book goes on to show how strings can be manipulated and counted, how the finite state machine and Markov chains can help solve probabilistic and combinatorial problems, how to derive asymptotic results, and how convergence and singularities play leading roles in deducing asymptotic information from generating functions. The final chapter presents the definitions and properties of the mathematical infrastructure needed to accommodate generating functions.

Accompanied by more than 1,000 examples and exercises, this comprehensive, classroom-tested text develops students’ understanding of the mathematical methodology behind the analysis of algorithms. It emphasizes the important relation between continuous (classical) mathematics and discrete mathematics, which is the basis of computer science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138118041
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/16/2017
Series:	Chapman & Hall/CRC Computer and Information Science Series
Pages:	826
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vladimir A. Dobrushkin is a professor in the Division of Applied Mathematics at Brown University and a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Table of Contents

Preliminaries. Combinatorics. Probability. More about Probability. Recurrences or Difference Equations. Introduction to Generating Functions. Enumeration with Generating Functions. Further Enumeration Methods. Combinatorics of Strings. Introduction to Asymptotics. Asymptotics and Generating Functions. Review of Analytic Techniques. Appendices. Bibliography. Answers/Hints to Selected Problems. Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

…helpful to any mathematics student who wishes to acquire a background in classical probability and analysis … This is a remarkably beautiful book that would be a pleasure for a student to read, or for a teacher to make into a year's course.

—Harvey Cohn, Computing Reviews, May 2010

Editorial Reviews

…helpful to any mathematics student who wishes to acquire a background in classical probability and analysis … This is a remarkably beautiful book that would be a pleasure for a student to read, or for a teacher to make into a year's course.

—Harvey Cohn, Computing Reviews, May 2010

From the Publisher