Exam 3: The Efficiency of Algorithms

How do you approach problems for which no known polynomial solution algorithm exists?

The ____ sort algorithm performs the task of sorting a list by growing a sorted subsection of the list from the back to the front.

No one has yet found a solution algorithm that works in polynomial time, but neither has anyone proved that such an algorithm does not exist.

A collection of nodes and connecting edges is called a(n) vector. _________________________

The ____ case of an algorithm requires the least work.

In the sequential search algorithm, the minimum amount of work is done if the value being searched for is the ____ value in the list.

A surprising number of problems fall into the "____" category.

If we were to run the sequential search algorithm many times, with random input values occurring at various places in the list, we would find the average number of comparisons done to be approximately n/2.

The copy-over algorithm is ____ in time efficiency in the worst case.

The sequential search and selection sort algorithms are different methods to get the same thing done.

Placing a list of items into alphabetical or numerical order is called ____.

The converging-pointers algorithm is Q(n) in the ____________________ case.

Binary search does ____ comparisons in the worst case.

Discuss at length the "people aspect" of the practical considerations for the development of algorithms. Include the concepts of program maintenance and ease of understanding in your response.

____________________ problems are solvable, but the solution algorithms all require so much work as to be virtually useless.

An ____ algorithm is called an exponential algorithm.

The shuffle-left algorithm is a(n) ____ algorithm in the worst case.

The selection sort algorithm can recognize whether or not the list is already sorted at the beginning.

____ involves the fixing of errors that are uncovered through repeated usage with different input values.

The study of the efficiency of algorithms is called the ____ of algorithms.