Introduces exciting new methods for assessing algorithms for problems ranging from clustering to linear programming to neural networks.

There are no silver bullets in algorithm design, and no single algorithmic idea is powerful and flexible enough to solve every computational problem. Nor are there silver bullets in algorithm analysis, as the most enlightening method for analyzing an algorithm often depends on the problem and the application. However, typical algorithms courses rely almost entirely on a single analysis framework, that of worst-case analysis, wherein an algorithm is assessed by its worst performance on any input of a given size. The purpose of this book is to popularize several alternatives to worst-case analysis and their most notable algorithmic applications, from clustering to linear programming to neural network training. Forty leading researchers have contributed introductions to different facets of this field, emphasizing the most important models and results, many of which can be taught in lectures to beginning graduate students in theoretical computer science and machine learning.

A timely book on a topic that has witnessed a surge of interest over the last decade, owing in part to several novel applications, most notably in data compression and computational molecular biology. It describes methods employed in average case analysis of algorithms, combining both analytical and probabilistic tools in a single volume. * Tools are illustrated through problems on words with applications to molecular biology, data compression, security, and pattern matching. * Includes chapters on algorithms and data structures on words, probabilistic and analytical models, inclusion-exclusion principles, first and second moment methods, subadditive ergodic theorem and large deviations, elements of information theory, generating functions, complex asymptotic methods, Mellin transform and its applications, and analytic poissonization and depoissonization. * Written by an established researcher with a strong international reputation in the field.

Data Structures & Theory of Computation

This book introduces the essential concepts of algorithm analysis required by core undergraduate and graduate computer science courses, in addition to providing a review of the fundamental mathematical notions necessary to understand these concepts. Features: includes numerous fully-worked examples and step-by-step proofs, assuming no strong mathematical background; describes the foundation of the analysis of algorithms theory in terms of the big-Oh, Omega, and Theta notations; examines recurrence relations; discusses the concepts of basic operation, traditional loop counting, and best case and worst case complexities; reviews various algorithms of a probabilistic nature, and uses elements of probability theory to compute the average complexity of algorithms such as Quicksort; introduces a variety of classical finite graph algorithms, together with an analysis of their complexity; provides an appendix on probability theory, reviewing the major definitions and theorems used in the book.

Computer science and economics have engaged in a lively interaction over the past fifteen years, resulting in the new field of algorithmic game theory. Many problems that are central to modern computer science, ranging from resource allocation in large networks to online advertising, involve interactions between multiple self-interested parties. Economics and game theory offer a host of useful models and definitions to reason about such problems. The flow of ideas also travels in the other direction, and concepts from computer science are increasingly important in economics. This book grew out of the author's Stanford University course on algorithmic game theory, and aims to give students and other newcomers a quick and accessible introduction to many of the most important concepts in the field. The book also includes case studies on online advertising, wireless spectrum auctions, kidney exchange, and network management.

This book examines how algorithms in criminal justice, education, housing, elections and beyond affect autonomy, freedom, and democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.