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Reviewer: S. Nagaraj

Computers are widely used all over the world. To benefit from them fully, it is essential to employ efficient algorithms when solving problems using computers. Efficient algorithms require less runtime and memory than other algorithms. This third edition is an introduction to algorithms. The book is very popular, and it is commonly used as a standard introduction to algorithms and data structures in undergraduate and graduate courses. In fact, academics, professionals, and researchers alike have something to gain from this book's 244 figures, 957 exercises, and 158 problems. The book consists of eight parts: "Foundations," "Sorting and Order Statistics," "Data Structures," "Advanced Design and Analysis Techniques," "Advanced Data Structures," "Graph Algorithms," "Selected Topics," and "Appendix: Mathematical Background." Unlike previous editions, this one offers solutions to some of the problems and exercises on the publisher's Web site (http://mitpress.mit.edu/algorithms/). While most of the second edition's content appears in this version, there are some significant differences. The authors have added new material on van Emde Boas trees and multithreaded algorithms, and 100 new exercises and 28 new problems. The chapters on recurrences, dynamic programming, and greedy algorithms have been revised, the bibliography has been updated, and the syntax of the pseudocode is slightly different. The chapters on binomial heaps and sorting networks have been omitted from this edition, since these topics are rarely taught. Considering the magnitude of the changes, this third edition is fully justified-in fact, even more material should have been added. Considering that the first edition was published in 1990, it is surprising that the third edition still contains some errors; the errors are listed on the book's Web site (http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~thc/clrs-bugs/bugs-3e.php). It is likely that the third edition will continue to be the standard textbook on algorithms. Its nice presentation style and stimulating exercises set this book apart from the rest. Online Computing Reviews Service