Algorithms by Jeff

Algorithms
by Jeff Erickson
1st edition, June 2019

(Amazon links: US, UK, DE, ES, FR, IT, JP)
This web page contains a free electronic version of my self-published

textbook Algorithms, along with other lecture notes I have written for
various theoretical computer science classes at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign since 1998.
 More information
 Get the book
 More algorithms lecture notes
 Models of computation notes
 Report an error (separate page)
 Coursework archive (separate page)
More Information
Publication. A black-and-white paperback edition of the textbook can be
purchased from Amazon for $27.50. The full-color electronic version will
remain freely available here indefinitely. (If there is enough demand, I may
publish a full-color printed version of the next edition. Color printing is
considerably more expensive; a full-color printed version of the current
book would cost about $75.)
Bug reports. After years of trying and failing to manage bug reports by
email, I now maintain an issue-tracking page at GitHub. If you find an error
in the textbook, in the lecture notes, or in any other materials, please
submit a bug report. All other feedback is welcome as well.
Permissions. Anyone is welcome to download, print, use, copy, and/or

distribute anything on this page, either electronically or on paper. You do
not need to ask my permission, although I would appreciate hearing from
you if you find this material useful. If you redistribute any of this material,
please include a link back to this web page, either directly or through the
mnemomic shortcut http://algorithms.wtf. Specifically:
 The textbook Algorithms (in both paper and electronic forms) is

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
 All other lecture notes are licensed under a more

restrictive Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Please do not ask me for solutions to the exercises. See the course
materials page for an explanation.
Context. This material is the primary reference for two regularly-offered

theoretical computer science courses at Illinois: CS 374 and CS 473. I
taught these courses most recently in Spring 2018 and Spring 2017,
respectively. I maintain a complete archive of my past homeworks, exams,
and lab handouts on a separate page.
Prerequisites. The textbook assumes knowledge of discrete math

(especially induction) and basic data structures and algorithms (especially
recursion) consistent with the prerequisite courses CS 173 and CS 225 at
Illinois. (See the <="" a="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 136); text-decoration:
none; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(136, 136, 170);">for more details.)
For a thorough overview of prerequisite material, I strongly recommend
the following resources:
<="" a="" style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 136); text-
decoration: none; border-
bottom: 1px dotted rgb(136,
136, 170);">
 <="" a="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 136); text-decoration: none; border-

bottom: 1px dotted rgb(136, 136, 170);">Building Blocks for Theoretical
Computer Science by Margaret Fleck
 Mathematics for Computer Science by Eric Lehman, Tom Leighton,

and Albert Meyer. (I strongly recommend searching for the most recent
revision.)
 Open Data Structures by Pat Morin
 datastructures by Don Sheehy
Get the Book
 Entire book (1st edition, June 2019, 472 pages)
o one page per page (for screens)
o two pages per page (for printing)

o GitHub (bug tracking)
o Internet Archive (permanent archival copy, currently the 0th

edition)
 Individual chapters: These were extracted from the full book PDF file,
to keep page numbers consistent; however, hyperlinks in these files do not
work.
o Front matter: Cover, copyright, table of contents, preface (18

pages)
1. Introduction (20 pages)
2. Recursion (50 pages)
3. Backtracking (26 pages)
4. Dynamic Programming (62 pages)
5. Greedy Algorithms (28 pages)
6. Basic Graph Algorithms (38 pages)
7. Depth-First Search (32 pages)
8. Minimum Spanning Trees (16 pages)
9. Shortest Paths (36 pages)
10. All-Pairs Shortest Paths (18 pages)
11. Maximum Flows & Minimum Cuts (26 pages)

12. Applications of Flows and Cuts (26 pages)
13. NP-Hardness (50 pages)
o Back matter: Indices, image credits, colophon (26 pages)
More Algorithms Lecture Notes
Both the topical coverage (except for flows) and the level of difficulty of the
textbook material (mostly) reflect the algorithmic content of CS 374. The
remainder of these notes cover either more advanced aspects of topics
from the book, or other topics that appear only in our more advanced
algorithms class CS 473. Don't be fooled by the fancy typesetting; these
notes are considerably less polished than the textbook.
 Extended Dance Remix: These are notes on more advanced material

directly related to the textbook. The notes are ordered roughly to match
the textbook chapters.
1. Fast Fourier Transforms (17 pages)
2. Fast Exponential Algorithms (14 pages)
3. Dynamic Programming for Formal Languages and Automata (7

pages, unfinished)
4. Advanced Dynamic Programming (18 pages)
5. Matroids (8 pages)
6. Balances and Pseudoflows (13 pages)
7. Minimum-Cost Flows (16 pages)
8. Linear Programming (21 pages)
9. Linear Programming Algorithms (18 pages)
10. Approximation Algorithms (25 pages)
 Director's Cut: These are notes on topics not covered in the textbook.
The numbering is completely independent os the textbook; I just started
over at 1. We regularly cover some of the randomized algorithms material
in CS 473, but I haven't used the amortized analysis or lower bounds notes
in many years.
1. Discrete Probability (22 pages)
2. Nuts and Bolts (13 pages)
3. Treaps and Skip Lists (14 pages)
4. Tail Inequalities (10 pages)
5. Hashing (19 pages)
6. Filtering and Streaming (6 pages)
7. String Matching (14 pages)
8. Randomized Minimum Cut (7 pages)
9.
10. Amortized Analysis (14 pages)
11. Scapegoat and Splay Trees (15 pages)
12. Disjoint Sets (14 pages)
13. Lower Bounds (6 pages)
14. Adversary Arguments (8 pages)
o Appendix I. Proof by Induction (30 pages)
o Appendix II. Solving Recurrences (22 pages)
Models of Computation
These notes cover (a superset of) the automata and formal languages
material in CS 374. Some of these notes are a lot more polished than others.
 Everything (155 pages)
 Individual notes:
1. Cover and preface (3 pages)
2. Strings (17 pages)
3. Regular languages (12 pages)

4. Finite-state automata (24 pages)
5. Nondeterministic automata (21 pages)
6. Context-free languages (20 pages)
7. Turing machings (20 pages)
8. Undecidability (20 pages)
9. Universal models (8 pages, unfinished)
10. Nondeterministic Turing machines (6 pages, unfinished)
If were not a little mad and generally silly

I should give you my advice upon the subject, willy-
nilly;
I should show you in a moment how to grapple with the
question,
And you'd really be astonished at the force of my
suggestion.
On the subject I shall write you a most valuable
letter,
Full of excellent suggestions when I feel a little
better,
But at present I'm afraid I am as mad as any hatter,
So I'll keep 'em to myself, for my opinion doesn't
matter!
—W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, "My Eyes are
Fully Open", Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse (1887)
It is time we did away with “publish or perish” and
replace it with “publish and perish.”
Nothing will be more blasphemous than writing a
textbook that anyone can go out and buy.
—Daniel J. Woodhouse, “An Open Letter to the
Mathematical Community”, McSweeny’s (January 15,
2019)
Jeff Erickson — 15 Jun 2

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Algorithms

1st edition, June 2019

This web page contains a free electronic version of my self-published

 Get the book

 More algorithms lecture notes

 Models of computation notes

 Report an error (separate page)

 Coursework archive (separate page)

Permissions. Anyone is welcome to download, print, use, copy, and/or

 The textbook Algorithms (in both paper and electronic forms) is

 All other lecture notes are licensed under a more

Context. This material is the primary reference for two regularly-offered

Prerequisites. The textbook assumes knowledge of discrete math

 <="" a="" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 136); text-decoration: none; border-

 Mathematics for Computer Science by Eric Lehman, Tom Leighton,

 Open Data Structures by Pat Morin

 datastructures by Don Sheehy

Get the Book

 Entire book (1st edition, June 2019, 472 pages)

o one page per page (for screens)

o two pages per page (for printing)

o Internet Archive (permanent archival copy, currently the 0th

o Front matter: Cover, copyright, table of contents, preface (18

1. Introduction (20 pages)

2. Recursion (50 pages)

3. Backtracking (26 pages)

4. Dynamic Programming (62 pages)

5. Greedy Algorithms (28 pages)

6. Basic Graph Algorithms (38 pages)

7. Depth-First Search (32 pages)

8. Minimum Spanning Trees (16 pages)

9. Shortest Paths (36 pages)

10. All-Pairs Shortest Paths (18 pages)

11. Maximum Flows & Minimum Cuts (26 pages)

13. NP-Hardness (50 pages)

o Back matter: Indices, image credits, colophon (26 pages)

More Algorithms Lecture Notes

 Extended Dance Remix: These are notes on more advanced material

1. Fast Fourier Transforms (17 pages)

2. Fast Exponential Algorithms (14 pages)

3. Dynamic Programming for Formal Languages and Automata (7

4. Advanced Dynamic Programming (18 pages)

7. Minimum-Cost Flows (16 pages)

8. Linear Programming (21 pages)

9. Linear Programming Algorithms (18 pages)

10. Approximation Algorithms (25 pages)

1. Discrete Probability (22 pages)

2. Nuts and Bolts (13 pages)

3. Treaps and Skip Lists (14 pages)

4. Tail Inequalities (10 pages)

5. Hashing (19 pages)

6. Filtering and Streaming (6 pages)

7. String Matching (14 pages)

8. Randomized Minimum Cut (7 pages)

11. Scapegoat and Splay Trees (15 pages)

12. Disjoint Sets (14 pages)

13. Lower Bounds (6 pages)

14. Adversary Arguments (8 pages)

o Appendix I. Proof by Induction (30 pages)

o Appendix II. Solving Recurrences (22 pages)