Determination of computational complexity of sample code - complexity-theory

Question

I give you three short codes:
First code:
procedure Proc (n:integer)
begin
if n>0 then
begin
writeln('x')
Proc(n-2)
writeln('*');
Proc(n-2)
end
end
Second code:
procedure Proc (n:integer)
begin
if n>0 then
begin
writeln('*');
Proc(n-1)
end
end
Third code:
procedure Proc (n:integer)
begin
if n>0 then
begin
writeln('x')
Proc(n/2)
writeln('*');
Proc(n/2)
end
end
I would like to know how to determine the computational complexity of each code that I gave, cuz it will help me to better understand.. Can someone write an algorithm for determination of computational complexity of sample code step by step, and do it so that it was possible to apply this algorithm for another examples of codes?

Answer 1

First Question: Assume you know that for the value of n - 2, Proc is called T(n-1) times. Therefore, for the value of n, T(n) = 1 + 2T(n-2), as there would be one call to Proc(n) which would in turn call Proc(n-2) twice. T(n) = 1 + 2T(n-2) is a variant of Tower of Hanoi which is T(n) = 1+2T(n-1). There are proofs here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi to Show that T(n) = 1+2T(n-1) = 2^n-1. Therefore T(n-1) = 1+2T((n-1)-1)= 1+2T(n-2) = 2^(n-1) -1. In your case T(n) = 1 + 2T(n-2) = 2^(n-1) -1. In other words, subtracting out every other term in the Tower of Hanoi problem saves about half the calls. 2^(n-1) - 1 = 2^n/2 - 1 which is O(2^n).
Second Question: This is easier. T(0) = 1 and T(n) = 1 + T(n-1). You can solve this many different ways, but one is via telescoping:
T(n) = 1 + T(n-1)
T(n-1) = 1 + (n-2)
...
T(1) = 1 + T(0)
Adding up both sides...
T(n) + T(n-1)+...+T(1) = 1 + T(n-1) + ... + 1 + T(0) = n + T(n-1)+...+T(0)
Subtract out like terms.
T(n) = n + T(0) = n + 1. So this is O(n).
Third Question: Similar to the first. T(0) = 1, say we know that for value of n-1, you can see that T(n) = 1 + 2 T(n/2). Note here that T(n) = 1 + 2T(n/2) < n + 2T(n/2).
So solve for 2T(n/2) + n with rolling out the recurrence:
T(n) = 2 T(n/2) + n
T(n/2) = 2 T(n/4) + n/2
So T(n) = 4T(n/4) + n + n
T(n/4) = 2T(n/8) + n/4
So T(n) = 8T(n/8) n + n + n
... It looks like T(n) = 2^kT(n/2^k)+kn for positive k.
Prove it by induction.
k = 1: T(n) = 2 T(n/2)+n which was given. This is our base case.
If true for k-1, show true for k:
T(n) = (2^(k-1))T(n/2^(k-1))+(k-1)n //Inductive hypothesis
T(n/2^(k-1)) = 2 T([n/2^(k-1))]/2)+n/2^(k-1)) //Given recurrence
= 2T(n/2^k)+n/2^(k-1)
=> T(n) = (2^k)T(n/2^k)+ n + (k-1)n = (2^k)T(n/2^k) + kn. So true for k.
T(n) = 2^kT(n/2^k)+kn, choose an appropriate positive k, such as k = ln(n).
T(n) = 2^ln(n) T(n/2^Ln(n)) + nln(n) = nT(1) +nln(n).
T(1) = 1 since Proc would just end. So n(T(1)) + nln(n) = nln(n) + n = O(nln(n)).
Unfortunately, there is not a one-size-fits all procedure for complexity. You have to take it on a case-by-case basis and figure out the problem.