An Introduction to the Analysis of Algorithms

by Robert Sedgewick and Philippe Flajolet

Book Overview

Despite growing interest, basic information on methods and models for mathematically analyzing algorithms has rarely been directly accessible to practitioners, researchers, or students. An... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 020140009X
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Not a reference guide

This book is REALLY for coursework : someone who is going to sit down and read and work thru this book sequentially, not randomly like a reference book.Other than that caveat it does what it promises ably but be aware that it is MATHS heavy and REQUIRES the programme work.

A must have.

I read a lot of books about complexity analysis. And this book is a state of art in the field. Easy to read, and well done.It cover the necessary staff that every new commer to the field should know, can be used as a refference,and it make a good teaching material for graduate student.

Clear and concise

This is an excellent book on the analysis of algorithms. More specifically, it is a book on the mathematics needed for the analysis of algorithms. Quite a few algorithms are presented and analyzed in great detail, but the emphasis is on the analysis techniques rather than on the algorithms.This is in contrast with Cormen,Leiserson and Rivest, or Sedgewick's own "Algorithms" series which emphasize the algorithms rather than the analysis.If you're looking for a catalog of algorithms along with explanations, you want a different book, but if you want to know how to analyze that bizarre code (which Fred in the next cubicle wrote) and prove that it works well (or doesn't) then this is an excellent choice.The book is aimed at advanced undergrads/graduate students and assumes a certain amount of mathematical sophistication - i.e. calculus, discrete math, probability, etc.On the spectrum from "Mathematical Techniques" through "Analysis of Algorithms" and ending up with "Catalog of Algorithms", I would start with Graham, Knuth and Patashnik "Concrete Mathematics", travel through this book, on to Knuth "The Art of Computer Programming", then to Cormen, Leiserson and Rivest, and finally end up with either Sedgewick's "Algorithms" or Skeina's "Algorithm Design Manual".

Classic textbook in this field

For a long time analytic combinatorics lacks a good and comprehensive textbook. Almost every learner in this field learns this subject via scattered papers and chapters in different books or journels. The apprearence of this book is so welcome by learners and researchers that it offers a excellent introduction of this powerful and relatively new field. Flajolet and Sedgewick are the famous masters of this field, and this book proves that again. The writing style is succinct, with instant exercise(s) after every important concept and result. The pace of this book is very natural and self-contained. The first half of this book deals with the basic tools used for analysis of algorithm, from the recurrence, generating function, to asymptotic approx. Then it discusses 2 most crucial subjects: trees and permutations. The last 2 chapter turns to strings and words. I found it very readble that there is a typical and core example in every chapter. BTW, since I still haven't finished studying this book, but I must say that Chapter 5 (Asymptotic) is among many textbooks the best introduction to this hard topic so far.

A very readable chapter on generating functions

I don't know whether the style of this book is good or not but for me the chapter on generating functions was very readable. At the time of reading I already have read several books for the understanding of generating functions; including Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik's "Concrete Mathematics," which is definitely great but difficult to me. I've got a solid understanding of the subject through two books: Polya et al's "Notes on Introductory Combinatorics" and Sedgewick and Flajolet's.