DECREASE & CONQUER

Description:
Decrease & conquer is a general algorithm design strategy based on exploiting the
relationship between a solution to a given instance of a problem and a solution to a
smaller instance of the same problem. The exploitation can be either top-down
(recursive) or bottom-up (non-recursive).

The major variations of decrease and conquer are

1. Decrease by a constant :(usually by 1):
a. insertion sort
b. graph traversal algorithms (DFS and BFS)
c. topological sorting
d. algorithms for generating permutations, subsets

2. Decrease by a constant factor (usually by half)

a. binary search and bisection method

3. Variable size decrease

a. Euclid’s algorithm

Following diagram shows the major variations of decrease & conquer approach.

Decrease by a constant :(usually by 1):

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Decrease by a constant factor (usually by half)

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 Insertion sort

Description:
Insertion sort is an application of decrease & conquer technique. It is a comparison based
sort in which the sorted array is built on one entry at a time

Algorithm:
ALGORITHM Insertionsort(A [0 … n-1] )
//sorts a given array by insertion sort
//i/p: Array A[0…n-1]
//o/p: sorted array A[0…n-1] in ascending order

for i 🡪 1 to n-1
V🡪
A[i] j 🡪
i-1
while j ≥ 0 AND A[j] > V do
A[j+1] 🡪 A[j]
j🡪 j–
1 A[j + 1] 🡪
V

Analysis:
 Input size: Array size, n
 Basic operation: key comparison
 Best, worst, average case exists
Best case: when input is a sorted array in ascending order:
Worst case: when input is a sorted array in descending order:
 Let Cworst(n) be the number of key comparison in the worst case. Then

 Let Cbest(n) be the number of key comparison in the best case.

Then

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Example:
Sort the following list of elements using insertion sort:
89, 45, 68, 90, 29, 34, 17

89 45 68 90 29 34 17
45 89 68 90 29 34 17
45 68 89 90 29 34 17
45 68 89 90 29 34 17
29 45 68 89 90 34 17
29 34 45 68 89 90 17
17 29 34 45 68 89 90

Advantages of insertion sort:

 Simple implementation. There are three variations
o Left to right scan
o Right to left scan
o Binary insertion sort
 Efficient on small list of elements, on almost sorted list
 Running time is linear in best case
 Is a stable algorithm
 Is a in-place algorithm

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 Depth-first search (DFS) and Breadth-first search (BFS)
DFS and BFS are two graph traversing algorithms and follow decrease and conquer
approach – decrease by one variation to traverse the graph

Some useful definition:

 Tree edges: edges used by DFS traversal to reach previously unvisited vertices
 Back edges: edges connecting vertices to previously visited vertices other than
their immediate predecessor in the traversals
 Cross edges: edge that connects an unvisited vertex to vertex other than its
immediate predecessor. (connects siblings)
 DAG: Directed acyclic graph

Depth-first search (DFS)

Description:
 DFS starts visiting vertices of a graph at an arbitrary vertex by marking it as
visited.
 It visits graph’s vertices by always moving away from last visited vertex to an
unvisited one, backtracks if no adjacent unvisited vertex is available.
 Is a recursive algorithm, it uses a stack
 A vertex is pushed onto the stack when it’s reached for the first time
 A vertex is popped off the stack when it becomes a dead end, i.e., when there is
no adjacent unvisited vertex
 “Redraws” graph in tree-like fashion (with tree edges and back edges for
undirected graph)

Algorithm:

ALGORITHM DFS (G)

//implements DFS traversal of a given graph
//i/p: Graph G = { V, E}
//o/p: DFS tree

Mark each vertex in V with 0 as a mark of being “unvisited”

count 🡪 0
for each vertex v in V do
if v is marked with 0
dfs(v)

dfs(v)
count 🡪 count + 1
mark v with
count
for each vertex w in V adjacent to v do
if w is marked with 0
dfs(w)

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Example:
Starting at vertex A traverse the following graph using DFS traversal method:

A B C D

E F G H

Solution:

Step Graph Remarks

1 Insert A into stack
A
A(1)

2
A Insert B into stack
B
B (2)
A(1)
3
A B Insert F into stack

F (3)
F B (2)
A(1)
4
Insert E into stack
A B
E (4)
F (3)
E F B (2)
A(1)
5 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for E, backtrack Delete E from stack

E (4, 1)
F (3)
B (2)
A(1)

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6 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for F, backtrack Delete F from stack

7
 E (4, 1)
F (3, 2)
B (2)
A(1)
7
Insert G into stack
A B
E (4, 1)
F (3, 2) G (5)
E F G B (2)
A(1)
8
A B C Insert C into stack

E (4, 1) C (6)
E F G F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)
9
A C D Insert D into stack
B
D (7)
G E (4, 1) C (6)
E F F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)
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A B C D Insert H into stack
H (8)
D (7)
E F G H E (4, 1) C (6)
F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)
11 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for H, backtrack
Delete H from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7)
E (4, 1) C (6)
F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)

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12 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for D, backtrack Delete D from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7, 4)
E (4, 1) C (6)
F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)
13 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C, backtrack Delete C from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7, 4)
E (4, 1) C (6, 5)
F (3, 2) G (5)
B (2)
A(1)
14 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for G, backtrack Delete G from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7, 4)
E (4, 1) C (6, 5)
F (3, 2) G (5, 6)
B (2)
A(1)
15 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for B, backtrack Delete B from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7, 4)
E (4, 1) C (6, 5)
F (3, 2) G (5, 6)
B (2, 7)
A(1)
16 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for A, backtrack Delete A from stack
H (8, 3)
D (7, 4)
E (4, 1) C (6, 5)
F (3, 2) G (5, 6)
B (2, 7)
A(1, 8)
Stack becomes empty. Algorithm stops as all the
nodes in the given graph are visited

The DFS tree is as follows: (dotted lines are back edges)

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 A

F G

E C

Applications of DFS:
 The two orderings are advantageous for various applications like topological
sorting, etc
 To check connectivity of a graph (number of times stack becomes empty tells the
number of components in the graph)
 To check if a graph is acyclic. (no back edges indicates no cycle)
 To find articulation point in a graph

Efficiency:
 Depends on the graph representation:
o Adjacency matrix : Θ(n2)
o Adjacency list: Θ(n + e)

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 Breadth-first search (BFS)

Description:
 BFS starts visiting vertices of a graph at an arbitrary vertex by marking it as
visited.
 It visits graph’s vertices by across to all the neighbors of the last visited vertex
 Instead of a stack, BFS uses a queue
 Similar to level-by-level tree traversal
 “Redraws” graph in tree-like fashion (with tree edges and cross edges for
undirected graph)

Algorithm:

ALGORITHM BFS (G)

//implements BFS traversal of a given graph
//i/p: Graph G = { V, E}
//o/p: BFS tree/forest

Mark each vertex in V with 0 as a mark of being “unvisited”

count 🡪 0
for each vertex v in V do
if v is marked with 0
bfs(v)

bfs(v)
count 🡪 count + 1
mark v with count and initialize a queue with v while
the queue is NOT empty do
for each vertex w in V adjacent to front’s vertex v do
if w is marked with 0
count 🡪 count + 1
mark w with
count add w to
the queue
remove vertex v from the front of the queue

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Example:
Starting at vertex A traverse the following graph using BFS traversal method:

A B C D

E F G H

Solution:

Step Graph Remarks

1 Insert A into queue
A
A(1)

2
A Insert B, E into queue
B
A(1), B (2), E(3)
B (2), E(3)
E

3
A B Insert F, G into queue

B(2), E(3), F(3), G(4)

E F G E(3), F(3), G(4)

4 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for E, backtrack Delete E from queue

F(3), G(4)
5 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for F, backtrack Delete F from queue

G(4)
6
A B C Insert C, H into queue

G(4), C(5), H(6)

E F G H C(5), H(6)

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7
C D Insert D into queue
A B
C(5), H(6), D(7)
H(6), D(7)
E F G H

8 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for H, backtrack Delete H from queue

D(7)
9 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for D, backtrack Delete D from queue
Queue becomes empty. Algorithm stops as all the
nodes in the given graph are visited

The BFS tree is as follows: (dotted lines are cross edges)

B E

F G

C H

Applications of BFS:
 To check connectivity of a graph (number of times queue becomes empty tells the
number of components in the graph)
 To check if a graph is acyclic. (no cross edges indicates no cycle)
 To find minimum edge path in a graph

Efficiency:
 Depends on the graph representation:
o Array : Θ(n2)
o List: Θ(n + e)

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Difference between DFS & BFS:

DFS BFS
Data structure Stack Queue
No. of vertex orderings 2 orderings 1 ordering
Edge types Tree edge Tree edge
Back edge Cross edge
Applications Connectivity Connectivity
Acyclicity Acyclicity
Articulation points Minimum edge paths
Efficiency for Θ(n2) Θ(n2)
adjacency matrix
Efficiency for Θ(n + e) Θ(n + e)
adjacency lists

Topological Sorting

Description:
Topological sorting is a sorting method to list the vertices of the graph in such an order
that for every edge in the graph, the vertex where the edge starts is listed before the
vertex where the edge ends.

NOTE:
There is no solution for topological sorting if there is a cycle in the digraph .
[MUST be a DAG]

Topological sorting problem can be solved by using

1. DFS method
2. Source removal method

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 DFS Method:
 Perform DFS traversal and note the order in which vertices become dead ends
(popped order)
 Reverse the order, yield the topological sorting.

Example:

Apply DFS – based algorithm to solve the topological sorting problem for the given graph:

C4
C1
C3

C2 C5

Step Graph Remarks

1 Insert C1 into stack
C1
C1(1)

2
C1 Insert C2 into stack
C3
C2 (2)
C1(1)

3 Insert C4 into stack

C4
C1
C4 (3)
C3 C2 (2)
C1(1)
4 Insert C5 into stack
C4
C1 C5 (4)
C3 C4 (3)
C2 (2)
C5 C1(1)

5 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C5, backtrack Delete C5 from stack

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 C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3)
C2 (2)
C1(1)
6 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C4, backtrack Delete C4 from stack

C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3, 2)
C2 (2)
C1(1)
7 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C3, backtrack Delete C3 from stack

C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3,2)
C2 (2, 3)
C1(1)
8 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C1, backtrack Delete C1 from stack

C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3,2)
C2 (2, 3)
C1(1, 4)
Stack becomes empty, but there is a node which is unvisited, therefore start the DFS
again from arbitrarily selecting a unvisited node as source
9 Insert C2 into stack
C2
C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3,2)
C2 (2, 3)
C1(1, 4) C2(5)

10 NO unvisited adjacent vertex for C2, backtrack Delete C2 from stack

C5 (4, 1)
C4 (3,2)
C2 (2, 3)
C1(1, 4) C2(5, 5)
Stack becomes empty, NO unvisited node left, therefore algorithm stops.
The popping – off order is:
C5, C4, C3, C1, C2,
Topologically sorted list (reverse of pop order):
C2, C1 🡪 C3 🡪 C4 🡪 C5

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Source removal method:
 Purely based on decrease & conquer
 Repeatedly identify in a remaining digraph a source, which is a vertex with no
incoming edges
 Delete it along with all the edges outgoing from it.

Example:
Apply Source removal – based algorithm to solve the topological sorting problem for the
given graph:
C4
C1
C3

C2 C5

Solution:
C4
C4
C1 Delete C1
C3
C3
C5
C2 C5 C2

Delete C2 C4 C4
Delete C3
C3

C5 C5

Delete C4 Delete C5
C5

The topological order is C1, C2, C3, C4, C5

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