Algorithms
an Introduction
History
• This course was first taught in the late 1960s
• The main principals that maintained the area
– Find algorithms that are fast for very large
inputs
– Assume a very simple model of a computer
– There are very fast and useful algorithms out
there for the finding.
Asymptotic Analysis
• We only care about the running time of our
algorithm as the size of the input goes to
infinity.
The RAM Computer Model
• The random-access-machine(RAM)
– Single processor
– Unit time addressable memory
– Unit time multiplication and addition of
numbers. ( log n bit numbers)
Amazing Algorithms
• Number Theory and cryptography
– Primes in P
• Linear programming and Business
• Computational Geometry and Graphic
• Graph Algorithms and
– Biology
– Internet
– Manufacturing
Skills Taught
• Proofs of Correctness
• Analysis of running times
• Decomposition of a larger problem
– E.g. using data structures
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Classifying different algorithms
Abstract algorithm problem
Search the literature
Demonstrate negative answers