Divide-and-Conquer Technique:
Maximum Subarray problem
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer
Divide-and-Conquer is a general
algorithm design paradigm:
Divide the problem into a number of
subproblems that are smaller
instances of the same problem
Conquer the subproblems by solving
them recursively
Combine the solutions to the
subproblems into the solution for the
original problem
The base case for the recursion are
subproblems of constant size
Analysis can be done using recurrence
equations
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer
a problem of size n
subproblem 1 subproblem 2
of size n/2 Divide of size n/2
a solution to a solution to
subproblem 1 subproblem 2
a solution to
the original problem
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Maximum Subarray Problem
• Input: an array A[1..n] of n numbers
– Assume that some of the numbers are negative,
because this problem is trivial when all numbers
are nonnegative
• Output: a nonempty subarray A[i..j] having the
largest sum S[i, j] = ai + ai+1 +... + aj
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
A 13 -3 -25 20 -3 -16 -23 18 20 -7 12 -5 -22 15 -4 7
maximum subarray
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Target array : 1 -4 3 2
What is a maximum
1 1
subarray?
All the sub arrays:
-4 -4 Ans: The subarray
3 3
with the largest sum
2 2
1 -4 -3
What is the brute-
-4 3 -1
force time?
Max! 3 2 5
1 -4 3 0
-4 3 2 1
1 -4 3 2 2
Brute-Force Algorithm
All possible contiguous subarrays
A[1..1], A[1..2], A[1..3], ..., A[1..(n-1)], A[1..n]
A[2..2], A[2..3], ..., A[2..(n-1)], A[2..n]
...
A[(n-1)..(n-1)], A[(n-1)..n]
A[n..n]
How many of them in total? O(n2)
Algorithm: For each subarray, compute the sum.
Find the subarray that has the maximum sum.
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Brute-Force Algorithm
Example: 2 -6 -1 3 -1 2 -2
sum from A[1]: 2 -4 -5 -2 -3 -1 -3
sum from A[2]: -6 -7 -4 -5 -3 -5
sum from A[3]: -1 2 1 3 1
sum from A[4]: 3 2 4 2
sum from A[5]: -1 1 -1
sum from A[6]: 2 0
sum from A[7]: -2
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Brute-Force Algorithm
Outer loop: index variable i to indicate start of subarray,
for 1 ≤ i ≤ n, i.e., A[1], A[2], ..., A[n]
for i = 1 to n do ...
Inner loop: for each start index i, we need to go through
A[i..i], A[i..(i+1)], ..., A[i..n]
use an index j for i ≤ j ≤ n, i.e., consider A[i..j]
for j = i to n do ...
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Brute-Force Algorithm
max = -∞
for i = 1 to n do Time
complexity?
begin
O(n2)
sum = 0
for j = i to n do
begin
sum = sum + A[j]
if sum > max
then max = sum
end
end
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
Possible locations of a maximum subarray A[i..j] of
A[low..high], where mid = (low + high)/2
▪ entirely in A[low..mid] (low i j mid)
▪ entirely in A[mid+1..high] (mid < i j high)
▪ crossing the midpoint (low i mid < j high)
crossing the midpoint
low mid high
mid +1
entirely in A[low..mid] entirely in A[mid+1..high]
Possible locations of subarrays of A[low..high]
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
FIND-MAX-CROSSING-SUBARRAY (A, low, mid, high)
left-sum = -∞ // Find a maximum subarray of the form A[i..mid]
sum = 0
for i = mid downto low
sum = sum + A[i ]
if sum > left-sum
left-sum = sum
max-left = i
right-sum = -∞ // Find a maximum subarray of the form A[mid + 1 .. j ]
sum =0
for j = mid +1 to high
sum = sum + A[j]
if sum > right-sum
right-sum = sum
max-right = j
// Return the indices and the sum of the two subarrays
return (max-left, max-right, left-sum + right-sum)
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
A[mid+1..j]
low i mid high
mid +1 j
A[i..mid]
A[i..j] comprises two subarrays A[i..mid] and A[mid+1..j]
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
mid =5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A 13 -3 -25 20 -3 -16 -23 18 20 -7
S[5 .. 5] = -3
S[4 .. 5] = 17 (max-left = 4)
S[3 .. 5] = -8
S[2 .. 5] = -11
S[1 .. 5] = 2
mid =5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A 13 -3 -25 20 -3 -16 -23 18 20 -7
S[6 .. 6] = -16
S[6 .. 7] = -39
S[6 .. 8] = -21
S[6 .. 9] = (max-right = 9) -1
S[6..10] = -8
maximum subarray crossing mid is S[4..9] = 16
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
FIND-MAXIMUM-SUBARRAY (A, low, high)
if high == low
return (low, high, A[low]) // base case: only one element
else mid = low + high / 2
(left-low, left-high, left-sum) =
FIND-MAXIMUM-SUBARRAY(A, low, mid)
(right-low, right-high, right-sum) =
FIND-MAXIMUM-SUBARRAY(A, mid + 1, high)
(cross-low, cross-high, cross-sum) =
FIND-MAX-CROSSING-SUBARRAY(A, low, mid, high)
if left-sum ≧ right-sum and left-sum ≧ cross-sum
return (left-low, left-high, left-sum)
elseif right-sum ≧ left-sum and right-sum ≧ cross-sum
return (right-low, right-high, right-sum)
else return (cross-low, cross-high, cross-sum)
Initial call: FIND-MAXIMUM-SUBARRAY (A, 1, n)
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm
Analyzing time complexity
FIND-MAX-CROSSING-SUBARRAY : (n),
where n = high − low + 1
FIND-MAXIMUM-SUBARRAY
(1) if n = 1,
T (n ) =
2T (n / 2) + (n ) if n 1.
T(n) = 2T(n/2) + (n)
= (n lg n) (similar to merge-sort)
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
Conclusion: Divide-and-Conquer
▪ This Divide and conquer algorithm is clearly substantially
faster than any of the brute-force methods. It required
some cleverness, and the programming is a little more
complicated – but the payoff is large.
▪ Divide and conquer is just one of several powerful
techniques for algorithm design
▪ Divide-and-conquer algorithms can be analyzed using
recurrences
▪ Can lead to more efficient algorithms
Dr. Md. Abul Kashem Mia, Professor, CSE Dept, BUET
