This course teaches a calculus that enables precise quantitative predictions of large combinatorial structures. In addition, this course covers generating functions and real asymptotics and then introduces the symbolic method in the context of applications in the analysis of algorithms and basic structures such as permutations, trees, strings, words, and mappings.
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Syllabus
WEEK 1
Analysis of Algorithms
We begin by considering historical context and motivation for the scientific study of algorithm performance. Then we consider a classic example that illustrates the key ingredients of the process: the analysis of Quicksort. The lecture concludes with a discussion of some resources that you might find useful during this course.
WEEK 2
Recurrences
We begin this lecture with an overview of recurrence relations, which provides us with a direct mathematical model for the analysis of algorithms. We finish by examining the fascinating oscillatory behavior of the divide-and-conquer recurrence corresponding to the mergesort algorithm and the general "master theorem" for related recurrences.
WEEK 3
Generating Functions
Since the 17th century, scientists have been using generating functions to solve recurrences, so we continue with an overview of generating functions, emphasizing their utility in solving problems like counting the number of binary trees with N nodes.
WEEK 4
Asymptotics
Exact answers are often cumbersome, so we next consider a scientific approach to developing approximate answers that, again, mathematicians and scientists have used for centuries.
WEEK 5
Analytic Combinatorics
Analytic Combinatorics. With a basic knowledge of recurrences, generating functions, and asymptotics, you are ready to learn and appreciate the basic features of analytic combinatorics, a systematic approach that avoids much of the detail of the classical methods that we have been considering. We introduce unlabeled and labelled combinatorial classes and motivate our basic approach to studying them, with numerous examples.
WEEK 6
Trees
The quintessential recursive structure, trees of various sorts are ubiquitous in scientific enquiry, and they arise explicitly in countless computing applications. You can find broad coverage in the textbook, but the lecture focuses on the use of analytic combinatorics to enumerate various types of trees and study parameters.
WEEK 7
Permutations
The study of sorting algorithms is the study of properties of permutations. We introduce analytic-combinatoric approaches to studying permutations in the context of this relationship.
WEEK 8
Strings and Tries
From DNA sequences to web indices, strings (sequences of characters) are ubiquitous in modern computing applications, so we use analytic combinatorics to study their basic properties and then introduce the trie, an essential and fundamental structure not found in classical combinatorics.
WEEK 9
Words and Mappings
We view strings as sets of characters or as functions from [1..N] to [1..M] to study classical occupancy problems and their application to fundamental hashing algorithms. Functions from [1..N] to [1..N] are mappings, which have an interesting and intricate structure that we can study with analytic combinatorics.
