Introduction to Algorithm Design
The objective of this chapter is to understand the principles of designing algorithms, and the importance of analyzing algorithms in solving real-world problems. Given input data, an algorithm is a step-by-step set of instructions that should be executed in sequence to solve a given problem.
In this chapter, we will also learn how to compare different algorithms and determine the best algorithm for the given use-case. There can be many possible correct solutions for a given problem, for example, we can have several algorithms for the problem of sorting n numeric values. So, there is no one algorithm to solve any real-world problem.
In this chapter, we will look at the following topics:
- Introducing algorithms
- Performance analysis of an algorithm
- Asymptotic notation
- Amortized analysis
- Choosing complexity classes
- Computing the running time complexity of an algorithm
