Skip to main content

Randomized Quicksort and the Entropy of the Random Source

  • Conference paper
Computing and Combinatorics (COCOON 2005)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 3595))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The worst-case complexity of an implementation of Quicksort depends on the random source that is used to select the pivot elements. In this paper we estimate the expected number of comparisons of Quicksort as a function of the entropy of the random source. We give upper and lower bounds and show that the expected number of comparisons increases from nlog n to n 2, if the entropy of the random source is bounded. As examples we show explicit bounds for distributions with bounded min-entropy and the geometrical distribution, as well as an upper bound when using a δ-random source.

Work supported by DFG research grant Scho 302/6-1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Alon, N., Rabin, M.O.: Biased coins and randomized algorithms. In: Preparata, F.P., Micali, S. (eds.) Advances in Computing Research 5, pp. 499–507. JAI Press (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ash, R.B.: Information Theory. Dover, New York (1965)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Devroye, L.: On the probabilistic worst-case time of “FIND”. Algorithmica 31, 291–303 (2001)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Hoare, C.A.R.: Quicksort. Computer Journal 5(1), 10–15 (1962)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Karloff, H.J., Raghavan, P.: Randomized algorithms and pseudorandom numbers. Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery 40, 454–476 (1993)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Knuth, D.: The Art of Computer Programming. Sorting and Searching, vol. 3. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  7. List, B.: Probabilistische Algorithmen und schlechte Zufallszahlen. PhD thesis, Universität Ulm (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Luby, M.: Pseudorandomness and Cryptographic Applications. Princeton University Press, Princeton (1996)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  9. Papadimitriou, C.H.: Computational Complexity. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1994)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Robert Sedgewick, R., Flajolet, P.: Analysis of Algorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Santha, M., Vazirani, U.V.: Generating quasi-random sequences from slightly random sources. In: Proceedings of the 25th IEEE (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tompa, M.: Probabilistic Algorithms and Pseudorandom Generators. Lecture Notes (1991)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

List, B., Maucher, M., Schöning, U., Schuler, R. (2005). Randomized Quicksort and the Entropy of the Random Source. In: Wang, L. (eds) Computing and Combinatorics. COCOON 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3595. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11533719_46

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11533719_46

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-28061-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31806-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics