Topics for the Week of Feb 11, 2008
CS343: Analysis of Algorithms

Assignments:

• Tues: Turn in chapter 3 problems (2, 7, 4, 11, word ladder)
• Tues: Discuss chapter 4 problems (3, 5, 6).
• Thurs: Discuss chapter 4 problems (TBA)

Lecture: Begin discussion of chapter 4: Greedy Algorithms

• Interval scheduling
• Shortest path - Dijkstra's Algorithm
• Minimum Spanning Tree:
  • Kruskal's Algorithm and the Union-Find Data Structure
  • Prim's Algorithm
  • Reverse-Delete Algorithm
• Clustering
• Huffman Codes and Data Compression
• We will not cover section 4.9 Minimum-Cost Arborescences.
• Examples of Algorithms
  • Dijkstra, Prim, Kruskal
  • Reverse-Delete
  • Union-Find
  • Another union find.
  • wire routing
• Analyzing Greedy algorithms:
  • Determining the "Greedy Rule"
  • Staying ahead: Given an optimal solution O, show that the greedy solution "stays ahead" of O
  • The Exchange Argument