Algorithm and Complexity

Author(s) : Herbert S. Wilf
Publication date : 1994

Book excerpts:

This book is about algorithms and complexity, and so it is about methods for solving problems on computers and the costs (usually the running time) of using those methods.

Computing takes time. Some problems take a very long time, others can be done quickly. Some problems seem to take a long time, and then someone discovers a faster way to do them (a 'faster algorithm'). The study of the amount of computational effort that is needed in order to perform certain kinds of computations is the study of computational complexity.

Throughout the book there are opportunities to ask the readers to write programs and get them running. These are not mentioned explicitly, with a few exceptions, but will be obvious when encountered. The readers should all have the experience of writing, debugging, and using a program that is nontrivially recursive.

View/Download Algorithm and Complexity