# Efficiency Today we'll review the definition of Big-Oh, do some proofs with it, and learn about *recurrence relations*. ## Big-Oh Recall the definition of Big-Oh: $$O(g) = \\{ f | \exists c > 0, n_0 > 0 . \forall n \geq n_0 . f(n) \leq cg(n) \\}$$ ##### Exercise: squared [&#10029;] Prove that $(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow 2n^2) \in O(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow n^3)$. &square; Here is an example proof that $(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow n) \in O(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow 2^n)$, or as some authors might write, that "$n$ is $O(2^n)$": **Proof:** Let $c = 1$ and let $n_0 = 1$. We must show that for all $n \geq n_0$, it holds that $n \leq 2^n$. We do so by induction on $n$, which you will recall from CS 2800: * Base case, $n = 1$: Substituting $1$ for $n$ in $n \leq 2^n$, we have that $1 \leq 2$, which is true. * Inductive case, an arbitrary $n \geq 1$: - Inductive hypothesis: Assume $n \leq 2^n$. - Show: $n+1 \leq 2^{n+1}$. - Proof: Adding $1$ to each side of the inductive hypothesis, we have that $n + 1 \leq 2^n + 1$. Focusing on the right-hand side of that inequality, we have that $2^n + 1 \leq 2^n + 2^n$, because $1 \leq 2^n$ when (as is the case here) $n \geq 0$. So we have that $2^n + 1 \leq 2^n + 2^n$. Once more focusing on the right-hand side, we can rewrite $2^n + 2^n$ as $2\cdot2^n$, which is $2^{n+1}$. Therefore we have $n+1 \leq 2^{n+1}$, which is what we needed to show. &square; ##### Exercise: logged [&#10029;&#10029;] Prove that $(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow \log n) \in O(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow n)$. *Hint: You will need to do a subproof involving logs; of the many ways of doing that subproof, one way would be to follow the example above.* &square; ## Running time Let's make the following assumption: there is some constant $S$ such that every step in the small-step substitution model semantics takes time less than or equal to $S$. We are effectively assuming that performing a primitive arithmetic operation (like +), forming a tuple, record, or variant from a given value, branching on a value in an if or match expression, and applying a function (but not evaluating it all the way to a value) are all constant-time operations. The expression 4 * (3+5) would then take time at most $2S$ to run, because it takes two steps in the small-step semantics. ##### Exercise: running time [&#10029;&#10029;] Give an upper bound on the running time of each expression in terms of $S$. - let x = 3 in x + x - let x = 3 + 3 in x + x - let f x = x + x in f (f 3) &square; Absent loops or recursion, functions will always run in constant time. But consider the following recursive function:  let rec countdown n = if n = 0 then () else countdown (n-1)  Let $T(n)$ be the time it takes to run countdown on input $n$. We can directly compute a bound on $T(0)$:  countdown 0 --> if 0 = 0 then () else countdown (n-1) --> if true then () else countdown (n-1) --> ()  Since countdown 0 takes three small steps, $T(0) \leq 3S$. But what about $T(n)$ for $n > 0$? We can use the substitution model:  countdown n --> if n = 0 then () else countdown (n-1) --> if false then () else countdown (n-1) --> countdown (n-1) --> countdown n' -->* v  where $n' = n - 1$. So it takes 4 steps to evaluate to countdown n'. It then takes $T(n') = T(n-1)$ steps to evaluate countdown n' to a value. Therefore $T(n) \leq 4S + T(n-1)$. This kind of formula (relating the value of a function on different inputs) is called a **recurrence relation**. In the worst case, where every step takes exactly $S$ time, $T(n) = 4S + T(n-1)$. A direct formula for $T$ would then be $T(n) = 4nS + 3S$. Since $S$ is a constant, we have that $T(n) \in O(\\mathit{fun}~n \rightarrow n)$. Thus, countdown runs in linear time. ##### Exercise: list recurrence [&#10029;&#10029;] Write down a recurrence relation bounding the running time of the following functions on an input list of length $n$: - let rec length lst = match lst with [] -> 0 | _::t -> 1 + length t - let rec map f lst = match lst with [] -> [] | h::t -> (f h)::(map f t) (assume that f takes at most $U$ time on any input, where $U$ is a constant) What is the running time of each using Big-Oh notation? &square; ## Additional exercises ##### Exercise: transitive [&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;] Prove that $O$ is *transitive*, that is, if $f$ is $O(g)$ and $g$ is $O(h)$, then $f$ is $O(h)$. &square; ##### Exercise: multiply [&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;] Prove that if $f$ is $O(f')$ and $g$ is $O(g')$ then $f \cdot g$ is $O(f' \cdot g')$. Multiplication of functions is defined as follows: $(f \cdot g)(x) = f(x) \cdot g(x)$. ##### Exercise: int recurrence [&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;] Write a recurrence relation bounding the running time of the following functions on input $n$: - let rec fact n = if n <= 1 then 1 else n * fact (n-1) - let rec bits n = if n = 0 then 0 else 1 + bits (n/2) The running time of the former in Big-Oh notation is easy to determine; the latter might be a little more difficult. *Hint:* try expanding the formula for some sample inputs. &square; ##### Exercise: fib [&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;&#10029;] Write a recurrence relation bounding the running time of the following function on input $n$:  let rec fib n = if n = 0 || n = 1 then 1 else fib (n-1) + fib (n-2)  Can you figure out how to solve that recurrence relation and determine the running time of fib in Big-Oh notation? These [old 3110 notes][oldnotes] have an answer. [oldnotes]: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Courses/cs3110/2014fa/recitations/24/rec24.html &square;