Open Access
2014 A Gaussian limit process for optimal FIND algorithms
Henning Sulzbach, Ralph Neininger, Michael Drmota
Author Affiliations +
Electron. J. Probab. 19: 1-28 (2014). DOI: 10.1214/EJP.v19-2933
Abstract

We consider versions of the FIND algorithm where the pivot element used is the median of a subset chosen uniformly at random from the data. For the median selection we assume that subsamples of size asymptotic to $c \cdot n^\alpha$ are chosen, where $0 < \alpha \leq \frac{1}{2}$, $c > 0$ and $n$ is the size of the data set to be split. We consider the complexity of FIND as a process in the rank to be selected and measured by the number of key comparisons required. After normalization we show weak convergence of the complexity to a centered Gaussian process as $n \to \infty$, which depends on $\alpha$. The proof relies on a contraction argument for probability distributions on càdlàg functions. We also identify the covariance function of the Gaussian limit process and discuss path and tail properties.

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Henning Sulzbach, Ralph Neininger, and Michael Drmota "A Gaussian limit process for optimal FIND algorithms," Electronic Journal of Probability 19(none), 1-28, (2014). https://doi.org/10.1214/EJP.v19-2933
Accepted: 6 January 2014; Published: 2014
Vol.19 • 2014
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