57 research outputs found
Improved Bounds for 3SUM, -SUM, and Linear Degeneracy
Given a set of real numbers, the 3SUM problem is to decide whether there
are three of them that sum to zero. Until a recent breakthrough by Gr{\o}nlund
and Pettie [FOCS'14], a simple -time deterministic algorithm for
this problem was conjectured to be optimal. Over the years many algorithmic
problems have been shown to be reducible from the 3SUM problem or its variants,
including the more generalized forms of the problem, such as -SUM and
-variate linear degeneracy testing (-LDT). The conjectured hardness of
these problems have become extremely popular for basing conditional lower
bounds for numerous algorithmic problems in P.
In this paper, we show that the randomized -linear decision tree
complexity of 3SUM is , and that the randomized -linear
decision tree complexity of -SUM and -LDT is , for any odd
. These bounds improve (albeit randomized) the corresponding
and decision tree bounds
obtained by Gr{\o}nlund and Pettie. Our technique includes a specialized
randomized variant of fractional cascading data structure. Additionally, we
give another deterministic algorithm for 3SUM that runs in time. The latter bound matches a recent independent bound by Freund
[Algorithmica 2017], but our algorithm is somewhat simpler, due to a better use
of word-RAM model
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A subquadratic algorithm for constructing approximately optimal binary search trees
An algorithm is presented which constructs an optimal binary search tree for an ordered list of n items, and which requires subquadratic time if there is no long sublist of very low frequency items. For example, time = O(n^1.6) if the frequency of each item is at least ε/ n for some constant ε > 0.A second algorithm is presented which constructs an approximately optimal binary search tree. This algorithm has one parameter, and exhibits a tradeoff between speed and accuracy. It is possible to choose the parameter such that time = O(n^1.6) and error = o(l)
A Static Optimality Transformation with Applications to Planar Point Location
Over the last decade, there have been several data structures that, given a
planar subdivision and a probability distribution over the plane, provide a way
for answering point location queries that is fine-tuned for the distribution.
All these methods suffer from the requirement that the query distribution must
be known in advance.
We present a new data structure for point location queries in planar
triangulations. Our structure is asymptotically as fast as the optimal
structures, but it requires no prior information about the queries. This is a
2D analogue of the jump from Knuth's optimum binary search trees (discovered in
1971) to the splay trees of Sleator and Tarjan in 1985. While the former need
to know the query distribution, the latter are statically optimal. This means
that we can adapt to the query sequence and achieve the same asymptotic
performance as an optimum static structure, without needing any additional
information.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, a preliminary version appeared at SoCG 201
Threesomes, Degenerates, and Love Triangles
The 3SUM problem is to decide, given a set of real numbers, whether any
three sum to zero. It is widely conjectured that a trivial -time
algorithm is optimal and over the years the consequences of this conjecture
have been revealed. This 3SUM conjecture implies lower bounds on
numerous problems in computational geometry and a variant of the conjecture
implies strong lower bounds on triangle enumeration, dynamic graph algorithms,
and string matching data structures.
In this paper we refute the 3SUM conjecture. We prove that the decision tree
complexity of 3SUM is and give two subquadratic 3SUM
algorithms, a deterministic one running in
time and a randomized one running in time with
high probability. Our results lead directly to improved bounds for -variate
linear degeneracy testing for all odd . The problem is to decide, given
a linear function and a set , whether . We show the
decision tree complexity of this problem is .
Finally, we give a subcubic algorithm for a generalization of the
-product over real-valued matrices and apply it to the problem of
finding zero-weight triangles in weighted graphs. We give a
depth- decision tree for this problem, as well as an
algorithm running in time
Conditional Lower Bounds for Space/Time Tradeoffs
In recent years much effort has been concentrated towards achieving
polynomial time lower bounds on algorithms for solving various well-known
problems. A useful technique for showing such lower bounds is to prove them
conditionally based on well-studied hardness assumptions such as 3SUM, APSP,
SETH, etc. This line of research helps to obtain a better understanding of the
complexity inside P.
A related question asks to prove conditional space lower bounds on data
structures that are constructed to solve certain algorithmic tasks after an
initial preprocessing stage. This question received little attention in
previous research even though it has potential strong impact.
In this paper we address this question and show that surprisingly many of the
well-studied hard problems that are known to have conditional polynomial time
lower bounds are also hard when concerning space. This hardness is shown as a
tradeoff between the space consumed by the data structure and the time needed
to answer queries. The tradeoff may be either smooth or admit one or more
singularity points.
We reveal interesting connections between different space hardness
conjectures and present matching upper bounds. We also apply these hardness
conjectures to both static and dynamic problems and prove their conditional
space hardness.
We believe that this novel framework of polynomial space conjectures can play
an important role in expressing polynomial space lower bounds of many important
algorithmic problems. Moreover, it seems that it can also help in achieving a
better understanding of the hardness of their corresponding problems in terms
of time
Four Soviets Walk the Dog-Improved Bounds for Computing the Fr\'echet Distance
Given two polygonal curves in the plane, there are many ways to define a
notion of similarity between them. One popular measure is the Fr\'echet
distance. Since it was proposed by Alt and Godau in 1992, many variants and
extensions have been studied. Nonetheless, even more than 20 years later, the
original algorithm by Alt and Godau for computing the Fr\'echet
distance remains the state of the art (here, denotes the number of edges on
each curve). This has led Helmut Alt to conjecture that the associated decision
problem is 3SUM-hard.
In recent work, Agarwal et al. show how to break the quadratic barrier for
the discrete version of the Fr\'echet distance, where one considers sequences
of points instead of polygonal curves. Building on their work, we give a
randomized algorithm to compute the Fr\'echet distance between two polygonal
curves in time on a pointer machine
and in time on a word RAM. Furthermore, we show that
there exists an algebraic decision tree for the decision problem of depth
, for some . We believe that this
reveals an intriguing new aspect of this well-studied problem. Finally, we show
how to obtain the first subquadratic algorithm for computing the weak Fr\'echet
distance on a word RAM.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures. A preliminary version appeared in SODA 201
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