Abstract

An algorithm is given which selects the Kth element in $X + Y$ in $O(n\log n)$ time and $O(n)$ space, where $X + Y$ is the multiset $\{ x_i + y_j | x_i \in X\text{ and } y_j \in Y\} $ for $X = (x_1,x_2, \cdots,x_n )$ and $Y = (y_1,y_2, \cdots,y_n )$, n-tuples of real numbers. The results are extended to $\sum_{i = 1}^m {X_i } $ for $m > 2$. There is strong evidence that this more general problem is difficult if m and K may be selected arbitrarily. However, algorithms can be shown which are fast for small K and arbitrary m.

Keywords

  1. selection
  2. order statistics
  3. weighted median
  4. pair selection
  5. optimal algorithm
  6. $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problems

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References

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Alfred V. Aho, John E. Hopcroft, Jeffrey D. Ullman, The design and analysis of computer algorithms, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Reading, Mass.-London-Amsterdam, 1975x+470
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Michael L. Fredman, Two applications of a probabilistic search technique: sorting $X+Y$ and building balanced search trees, Seventh Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (Albuquerque, N. M., 1975), Assoc. Comput. Mach., New York, 1975, 240–244, May
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L. H. Harper, T. H. Payne, J. E. Savage, E. Straus, Sorting $X+Y$, Comm. ACM, 18 (1975), 347–349
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Eugene L. Lawler, A procedure for computing the K best solutions to discrete optimization problems and its application to the shortest path problem, Management Sci., 18 (1971/72), 401–405
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Published In

cover image SIAM Journal on Computing
SIAM Journal on Computing
Pages: 147 - 153
ISSN (online): 1095-7111

History

Submitted: 28 June 1976
Published online: 31 July 2006

Keywords

  1. selection
  2. order statistics
  3. weighted median
  4. pair selection
  5. optimal algorithm
  6. $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problems

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