Questions tagged [recursion]
Questions about objects such as functions, algorithms or data structures that are expressed using "smaller" instances of themselves.
581
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Trying to implement BFS and I am stuck
I am trying to write down a code which would blindly search for a condition using breadth first search.I have been thinking of it for quite some time and I cant figure out how to continue.
On the one ...
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12
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Better implementations for this dynamic program to solve optimization problem?
In the code below, I describe a problem and provide a backtracking implementation in Python that solves it:
...
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54
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Similar problem to Knight's tour
You have board size and one Knight but what is different is that when you move it you have to duplicate the knight and the 2 duplicates have to be in valid position from the knight
This gets repeated ...
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1
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35
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Complexity of simulations in simulations
This video of a group, who simulated (a very simple version of) Minecraft inside Minecraft itself got me thinking about the performance of such setups.
Another example to what I'm referring to, would ...
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2
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45
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Prove $T(n)=2T(\dfrac{n}{2})+\Theta(n\log{n})=\Theta(n\log^2{n})$ using induction
Please first take a brief look at my previous question. Here I want to do something similar but for $T(n)=2T(\dfrac{n}{2})+\Theta(n\log{n})$. I know the answer is $T(n)=\Theta(n\log^2{n})$ and I want ...
2
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1
answer
68
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Checking equality of self-referential lists
Define that an srlist ("self-referential list") over $X$ consists of a list of elements of $X \sqcup \mathrm{srlist}(X).$ So basically, the items can be primitive values, or further self-...
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4
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146
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Understanding the Recursive Algorithm for Integer Division
In my reference, Page 26, Algorithms by Sanjoy Dasgupta, Christos H. Papadimitriou, and Umesh V. Vazirani, a division algorithm is give as,
\begin{align}
&\text{function divide}(x, y)\\\\
&\...
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0
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50
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Diffucuty in understanding code after a recursive call
This is an example algorithm of a recursive insertion sort I'm trying to understand. I've have tried understanding this with
the help of print statements (which I've commented).
...
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1
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54
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Are there situations where we can decrease the time complexity of a program by increasing its ordinal complexity?
Are there (interesting) situations where we can decrease the time complexity of a program by increasing its ordinal complexity?
For example, is it possible to find a primitive recursive function such ...
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3
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86
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When to do proof by structural induction Vs defining a recursive function?
I'm trying to isolate the key differences between induction and recursion so that I am able to know when to use one over the other.
From my understanding, both can be used to prove properties about ...
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2
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36
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Can proofs by induction be achieved by defining a recursive function between two recursive objects?
I have two types of objects, X and Y, each are recursive structures, and contain different structures sets of tuples containing sets.. etc. The number of elements in X and Y are is the same.
I need to ...
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3
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72
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Having trouble on logic behind recursion
I am struggling to write my own recursive function.I understand how to find the base case but I cant find easily the pattern on the relationship between 2 complicated cases.Do you know any website ...
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1
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34
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Are recursive Horn clauses first order?
My understanding is that recursive definitions are considered second-order since they require the fixpoint operator in order to be formulated as "true" definitions. This is even though they ...
0
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1
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82
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Change of associativity for a given right-recursive grammar
In section 3.7.1, of the book titled: Compiler design in C, by Allen I. Holub (made available freely online, by the author here, & the page #19 of errata, here), have on page #176, the mention of ...
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40
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Is my mathematical representation of search in binary search tree correct?
You are given the root of a binary search tree (BST) and an integer val.
Find the node in the BST that the node's value equals <...
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1
answer
54
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Understanding the Internal Stack Frames in a Recursive Function Call
I'm trying to understand how the system's call stack works internally when a
recursive function is called. Specifically, I'm looking at a function that
computes the maximum depth of a binary tree ...
0
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1
answer
29
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Binary search calculating complexity big o
I'm studying recursion and a i have a doubt about the running time complexity of the binary search. I didnt understand this passage in my book :
...
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2
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67
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Finding asymptotically tight upper bound of a recursion relation
Find an asymptotic tight upper bound for the following recursion relation: $$T(n)=5T(\frac{n}{5})+\log^2(n)$$
I tried to solve it by applying iteration:
$$T(n)=5T(\frac{n}{5})+\log^2(n)=5(5T(\frac{n}{...
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1
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57
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Programs with feedback?
Suppose we have a program like this:
...
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1
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33
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Axiomatically, what characterizes “recursion”?
My question is admittedly simple, but the desire is to have an insightful view on it behind a conventional definition.
In different foundational or axiomatic systems, I have come to consider “...
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2
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63
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Justification for the properties of algorithmic recurrences in 'Introduction to Algorithms' (CLRS, 4e)
The fourth edition of 'Introduction to Algorithms' defines algorithmic recurrences on page 77 as follows:
**Algorithmic recurrences
[...] A recurrence is algorithmic, if for every sufficiently large ...
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2
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51
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Clarification of divide-and-conquer recurrence explanation in 'Introduction to Algorithms' (CLRS)
The following excerpt is from page 39 of the 4th edition of 'Introduction to Algorithms' (emphasis added):
2.3.2 Analyzing divide-and-conquer algorithms
[...]
A recurrence for the running time of a ...
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45
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How to Remove Left Recursion from this Grammar?
How to remove left recursion in the following Grammar:
S→Bb/a
B→Bc/Sd/e
Im new to this, below is the way I'm doing it:
...
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1
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68
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How is there a paradox in the halting problem when you can trace it and it's very clearly non-halting?
Here's Alan Turing's halting problem in pseudocode:
...
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1
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66
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How to derive time complexity of the Recurrence Relation - T(n,m) = T(n-1,m) + T(n,m-1) + c
I know that, T(n,m) = T(n-1,m) + T(n,m-1) + c it's the recurrence equation of Longest Common Subsequence algorithm. And the time complexity of the LCS in case of recursive method is O(2^n+m).
The base ...
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2
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176
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Complexity of generating all subsets of size $k$ using recursion
What is the complexity of the following (Python) code, that builds the list L of all subsets of size $k$ of a given set?
...
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14
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Finding a ArrayList Connection (representing Subway Lines) with Recursion
I have this ArrayList (called linArray) (and this only) that contains Subway exchange stations (first the station name and then the lines you can exchange to at that station):
...
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0
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26
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Does a bijective function exists behind every recurrence relation?
Consider these 2 questions where recurrence relations can be applied:
Q1) Given an (nxm) where n denotes rows and m denotes columns of a grid, find the number of unique paths ($a_{n,m}$) that goes ...
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0
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29
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How to solve recurrences of this type?
$T(n) = 2 T(\lceil \frac{2n}{3} \rceil) + T(\lceil \frac{n}{3} \rceil) + O(n log n)$
From the 3-ary recurrence tree, one can say that $T(n) \geq cnlog^{2}n$ for some constant c, using the shortest ...
0
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0
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34
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Is recursiveness always from bottom to top?
Lets assume dir a has dir b which has dir c.
In a recursive deletion of these directories we ...
0
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1
answer
65
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Complexity of recursive function that calls itself with it's own return value
Given the following code:
int f3(int n)
{
if(n <= 2) return 1;
f3(1 + f3(n-2));
return n - 1;
}
I was trying to find the time complexity and I got this ...
1
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0
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108
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How many ways we can partition a multiset, where each part/segment in the partition has distinct elements? [closed]
We define the set S as $\{(s_1, f_1), (s_2, f_2), ..., (s_i, f_i)\}$, where each $f_i$ is the frequency that $s_i$ is repeated in the multiset T. How many ways can we partition the multiset T into ...
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2
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46
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Types and programming languages: strange term construction?
Pierce's Types and Programming Languages has the following definition of terms:
$$S_0=\emptyset$$
$$S_{i+1} = \{true,false,0\} \cup \{succ(t), pred(t),iszero(t)|t \in S_i\} \cup\{if(t_1)then (t_2)...
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36
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Programming language implementation challenge: is recursion harder than HOFs, or vice versa?
(Initially this question was on cstheory, but I was told cs would be a better fit, so posting it here.)
All other things being equal, which of the following languages would be more challenging to ...
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3
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150
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In theory, is it impossible, or possible (although ridiculously impractical), to inline recursive functions?
In an older question I asked about stack, the statement came up that recursive functions cannot be inlined (link). I am interested in whether this statement is actually true or not. I understand that ...
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1
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39
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Implementation of cantor set without recursion
I'm working on the implementation of a cantor set on a 2-dimensional plane. It looks like this. Honestly, There is the obvious algorithm for the cantor set, but it includes a recursive method call. ...
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3
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136
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is there an O(n^2) approach to this problem?
Given an array of N elements, I need to split it into k subarrays, where k can be between 2 <= k <= N. A sub-array's score is determined by:
(left boundary point - right boundary point of the ...
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2
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57
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Let F be a function defined for all nonnegative integers by the following recursive definition
Let F be a function defined for all nonnegative integers by the following recursive
definition.
F(0) = 0, F(1)= 1
F(n + 2) = 2F(n) + F(n +1), n>0
Compute the first six values of F; that is, write ...
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1
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127
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Minimizing/Maximizing recursion depth for DFS
The idea for this problem comes from GATE CS 2014 Set-3 Q13.
Given a graph, are there any heuristics to figure out a DFS traversal which has minimum/maximum recursion depth?
Consider the graph from ...
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1
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116
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Expected runtime of recursive algorithm with optional part
I have a randomized recursive algorithm which expected running time is $T(n)$. In particular, the recursion looks like this: $$ T(n) \leq \mathcal cn + R ,$$ where $R$ is a recursive term that depends ...
0
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1
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76
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Recursive DFS Problem
I have been struggling with this contest problem for awhile now which is found at this link: https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~hilfingr/programming-contest/pacific-northwest/2009/b.pdf
Short summary ...
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2
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71
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Finding the runtime out of a recursion formula when using divide-and-conquer
In divide-and-conquer, one uses the following formula to find the runtime:
$$T(n) = aT(n/b) + f(n).$$
I am confused with the meaning of the constants $a$ and $b$, as well as by the question of how to ...
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1
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66
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How to solve T(n)=2T(√n)+(loglogn)^2?
Trying to solve the recurrence, but no clue how to deal with the (loglogn)^2 part
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34
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Iterative algorithm for assembly index? [duplicate]
DOI: 10.3390/e24070884 provides pseudocode for computing the assembly index of an object. It is written as recursive algorithm, which might be fine. But I would like to implement an iterative version ...
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30
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Defining dynamic programming [duplicate]
Could we say that Dynamic programming is nothing but recursion + Memoization?
Although the formal definition of dynamic programming is that the problem should have an optimal substructure property, ...
4
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1
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134
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Tail call optimization via translating to CPS
I am struggling to wrap my head around this compiler technique, so let's say here's my factorial function
...
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0
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43
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The complexity of Steinberg's strip-packing algorithm
In reading the paper "a strip-packing algorithm with absolute performance bound 2", the author gives a recursion formula $T(l)=T(l')+T(l'')+O(min\{l'\log{l'},l''\log{l'}',l\})$, where $l'+l''...
1
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2
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60
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Can a strict right fold be implemented in a single loop?
A strict left fold is straightforward to implement as a loop, rather than with recursion:
...
2
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1
answer
133
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Runtime complexity of permutation function
I am trying to find the asymptotic run time complexity of the following function which will return a list of all permutations of nums.
...
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1
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208
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How are regular languages not structurally recursive?
This blog posting states that "regular languages aren't structurally recursive" while
"That's not the case for context-free grammars"
In what sense is the term "structurally ...