Brute Force
A straightforward approach usually based on problem
statement and definitions
Examples:
1. Computing an (a > 0, n a nonnegative integer)
2. Computing n!
3. Multiply two n by n matrices
4. Selection sort
5. Sequential search
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 1
String matching
pattern: a string of m characters to search for
text: a (long) string of n characters to search in
Brute force algorithm:
1. Align pattern at beginning of text
2. moving from left to right, compare each character of pattern to the
corresponding character in text until
– all characters are found to match (successful search); or
– a mismatch is detected
3. while pattern is not found and the text is not yet exhausted, realign
pattern one position to the right and repeat step 2.
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 2
Brute force string matching –
Examples:
1. Pattern: 001011
Text: 10010101101001100101111010
2. Pattern: happy
Text: It is never too late to have a happy
childhood.
Number of comparisons:
Efficiency: Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 3
Brute force polynomial
evaluation
Problem: Find the value of polynomial
p(x) = anxn + an-1xn-1 +… + a1x1 + a0
at a point x = x0
Algorithm:
p := 0.0
for i := n down to 0 do
power := 1
for j := 1 to i do
power := power
*x
p := p + a[i] * power
return p
Efficiency:
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 4
Polynomial evaluation:
improvement
We can do better by evaluating from right to left:
Algorithm:
p := a[0]
power := 1
for i := 1 to n do
power := power * x
p := p + a[i] * power
return p
Efficiency:
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 5
More brute force algorithm
examples:
Closest pair
• Problem: find closest among n points in k-dimensional space
• Algorithm: Compute distance between each pair of points
• Efficiency:
Convex hull
• Problem: find smallest convex polygon enclosing n points on the
plane
• Algorithm: For each pair of points p1 and p2 determine whether all
other points lie to the same side of the straight line through p1 and
p2
• Efficiency:
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 6
Brute force strengths and
weaknesses
Strengths:
• wide applicability
• simplicity
• yields reasonable algorithms for some important problems
– searching
– string matching
– matrix multiplication
• yields standard algorithms for simple computational tasks
– sum/product of n numbers
– finding max/min in a list
Weaknesses:
• rarely yields efficient algorithms
• some brute force algorithms unacceptably slow
• not as constructive/creative as some other design techniques
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 7
Exhaustive search
A brute force solution to a problem involving search for an
element with a special property, usually among
combinatorial objects such a permutations, combinations,
or subsets of a set.
Method:
• construct a way of listing all potential solutions to the problem in a
systematic manner
– all solutions are eventually listed
– no solution is repeated
• Evaluate solutions one by one, perhaps disqualifying infeasible ones
and keeping track of the best one found so far
• When search ends, announce the winner
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 8
Example 1: Traveling salesman
problem
Given n cities with known distances between each pair, find
the shortest tour that passes through all the cities exactly
once before returning to the starting city.
Alternatively: Find shortest Hamiltonian circuit in a
weighted connected graph.
Example:
2
a b
5 3
8 4
c 7
d
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 9
Traveling salesman by exhaustive
search
Tour Cost .
a→b→c→d→a 2+3+7+5 = 17
a→b→d→c→a 2+4+7+8 = 21
a→c→b→d→a 8+3+4+5 = 20
a→c→d→b→a 8+7+4+2 = 21
a→d→b→c→a 5+4+3+8 = 20
a→d→c→b→a 5+7+3+2 = 17
Efficiency:
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 10
Example 2: Knapsack Problem
Given n items:
• weights: w1 w2 … wn
• values: v1 v2 … vn
• a knapsack of capacity W
Find the most valuable subset of the items that fit into the knapsack
Example:
item weight value Knapsack capacity W= 16
1 2 $20
2 5 $30
3 10 $50
4 5 $10
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 11
Knapsack by exhaustive search
Subset Total weight Total value
{1} 2 $20
{2} 5 $30
Efficiency:
{3} 10 $50
{4} 5 $10
{1,2} 7 $50
{1,3} 12 $70
{1,4} 7 $30
{2,3} 15 $80
{2,4} 10 $40
{3,4} 15 $60
{1,2,3} 17 not feasible
{1,2,4} 12 $60
{1,3,4} 17 not feasible
{2,3,4} 20 not feasible
{1,2,3,4} 22 not feasible
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 12
Final comments:
Exhaustive search algorithms run in a realistic amount of
time only on very small instances
In many cases there are much better alternatives!
• Euler circuits
• shortest paths
• minimum spanning tree
• assignment problem
In some cases exhaustive search (or variation) is the only
known solution
Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Chapter 3 13