Top-down analysis of path compression

Raimund Seidel*, Micha Sharir

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a new analysis of the worst-case cost of path compression, which is an operation that is used in various well-known "union-find" algorithms. In contrast to previous analyses which are essentially based on bottom-up approaches, our method proceeds top-down, yielding recurrence relations from which the various bounds arise naturally. In particular the famous quasilinear bound involving the inverse Ackermann function can be derived without having to introduce the Ackermann function itself.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)515-525
Number of pages11
JournalSIAM Journal on Computing
Volume34
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2005

Keywords

  • Disjoint sets data structure
  • Inverse Ackermann function
  • Path compression
  • Union-find problem

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Top-down analysis of path compression'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this