# Tagged Questions

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1answer
48 views

### Time complexity in Big O notation for Harmonic series with first k terms missing

Firstly, let's suppose there exists an algorithm where $i$ iterates from $1$ to $n$, spending $\frac{n^2}{i}$ time in each iteration. Thanks to the well known $O(\log n)$ upper bound for the Harmonic ...
3answers
217 views

### A Problem on Time Complexity of Algorithms

For every integer $t$, is there a problem whose solutions can be verified in $O(n^{s})$ time but cannot be found in $O(n^{st})$ time? By verifying, I mean that given a candidate solution $y$, we can ...
1answer
42 views

### Lower bound for sorting n arrays of size k each

Given $n$ arrays of size $k$ each, we want to show that at least $\Omega(nk \log k)$ comparisons are needed to sort all arrays (indepentent of each other). My proof is a simple modification of the ...
1answer
120 views

### Is detecting “doubly” arithmetic progressions 3SUM-hard?

This is inspired by an interview question. We are given an array of integers $a_1, \dots, a_n$ and have to determine if there are distinct $i \lt j \lt k$ such that $a_k - a_j = a_j - a_i$ \$k - j = ...
1answer
58 views

### Complexity of transposing matrices represented as list of row or column vectors

Given [[1,4,7],[2,5,8],[3,6,9]] which is a list of the column vectors of matrix |1, 2, 3| |4, 5, 6| |7, 8, 9| is $\Omega(n^2)$ a lower bound for transposing? ...
2answers
69 views

### Constraint violation and efficiency in search

It seems that (in a broad sense) two approaches can be utilized to produce an algorithm for solving various optimization problems: Start with a feasible solution and expand search until constraints ...
2answers
79 views

### Methods for Finding Asymptotic Lower Bounds

I've found in many exercises where I'm asked to show that $f(n)=\Theta(g(n))$ where the two functions are of the same order of magnitude I have difficulty finding a constant $c$ and a value $n_0$ for ...
0answers
123 views

### Is there a data-structure which is more efficient than both arrays and linked lists? [duplicate]

Background: In this question we care only about worst-case running-time. Array and (doubly) linked lists can be used to keep a list of items and implement the vector abstract data type. Consider the ...
1answer
92 views

### Simple lower bounds against AC0

It is known that $Parity \notin AC^0$ (nonuniform), but the proof is rather involved and combinatorial. Are there simpler, but weaker lower bounds, say for $NP \not \subseteq AC^0$ or \$NEXP \not ...
3answers
90 views

### Search spaces and computation time

This question follows on previous questions (1), (2), where we define an initial space of possibilities and reason about how a solution is chosen from that. Consider a problem P where we are given: ...
1answer
72 views

### Input that causes an operation on a binomial heap to run in $\Omega(\log n)$ time?

I was studying binomial heaps and its time analysis. Are there any inputs that cause DELETE-MIN, DECREASE-KEY, and DELETE to run in $\Omega(\log n)$ time for a binomial heap rather than $O(\log n)$?
1answer
39 views

### Progress of algorithms in problem spaces

Continuing in the vein of two prior questions (1) and (2), we started with sorting, where we had a set of $n!$ input possibilities a goal space of only one element consisting of the one correct ...
2answers
69 views

### Lower bound on size of proof that a list of integers is sorted

Suppose we have a list of unbounded integers, written in binary, and we want to write a (formal) proof that the list is sorted in ascending order. Such a proof might look (informally) like: "2 < ...
2answers
132 views

### Space complexity below $\log\log$

Show that for $l(n) = \log \log n$, it holds that $\text{DSPACE}(o(l)) = \text{DSPACE}(O(1))$. It's well known fact in Space Complexity, but how to show it explicitly?
1answer
62 views

### Proofs based on narrowing down sets of possibilities

Consider the argument made in this question based on the comparison sorting lower-bounds proof, which runs as follows. First, the comparison sorting lower-bounds proof was recited: For $n$ ...
1answer
133 views

### Generalizing the Comparison Sorting Lower Bound Proof

Let's start with the comparison sorting lower bound proof, which I'll summarize as follows: For $n$ distinct numbers, there are $n!$ possible orderings. There is only one correct sorted sequence of ...
1answer
113 views

### Lower bound for Convex hull

By making use of the fact that sorting $n$ numbers requires $\Omega(n \log n)$ steps for any optimal algorithm (which uses 'comparison' for sorting), how can I prove that finding the convex-hull of ...
2answers
194 views

### Lower bounds: queues that return their min elements in $O(1)$ time

First, consider this simple problem --- design a data structure of comparable elements that behaves just like a stack (in particular, push(), pop() and top() take constant time), but can also return ...
4answers
410 views

### Is every linear-time algorithm a streaming algorithm?

Over at this question about inversion counting, I found a paper that proves a lower bound on space complexity for all (exact) streaming algorithms. I have claimed that this bound extends to all linear ...
1answer
120 views

### Bound on space for selection algorithm?

There is a well known worst case $O(n)$ selection algorithm to find the $k$'th largest element in an array of integers. It uses a median-of-medians approach to find a good enough pivot, partitions ...
1answer
263 views

### How to use adversary arguments for selection and insertion sort?

I was asked to find the adversary arguments necessary for finding the lower bounds for selection and insertion sort. I could not find a reference to it anywhere. I have some doubts regarding this. I ...
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