Algorithms, Medians and Order Statistics

The i th *order statistic of a set of n elements is the i th smallest element. Simply saying the minimum of a set of elements is the first order statistic (i = 1) and maximum is the nth order statistic (i = n). Median is the informally considered as a “halfway point” of the set.

Minimum and Maximum

How many comparisons are necessary to determine the minimum of a set of n elements? The answer is straightforward: n - 1 comparisons.

MINIMUM(A):
min = A[1]
for i = 2 to A.length
   if min > A[i]
      min = A[i]
return min

It is possible to find both the minimum and the maximum using at most 3*floor(n/2) comparisons. By processing elements in pairs, we compare pairs of elements from the input first with each other, and then we compare the smaller with the current minimum and the larger to the current maximum, at a cost of 3 comparisons for every 2 elements.

#include<stdio.h>
 
/* structure is used to return two values from minMax() */
struct pair 
{
  int min;
  int max;
};  
 
struct pair getMinMax(int arr[], int n)
{
  struct pair minmax;     
  int i;  
 
  /* If array has even number of elements then 
    initialize the first two elements as minimum and 
    maximum */
  if (n%2 == 0)
  {         
    if (arr[0] > arr[1])     
    {
      minmax.max = arr[0];
      minmax.min = arr[1];
    }  
    else
    {
      minmax.min = arr[0];
      minmax.max = arr[1];
    }
    i = 2;  /* set the startung index for loop */
  }  
 
   /* If array has odd number of elements then 
    initialize the first element as minimum and 
    maximum */
  else
  {
    minmax.min = arr[0];
    minmax.max = arr[0];
    i = 1;  /* set the startung index for loop */
  }
   
  /* In the while loop, pick elements in pair and 
     compare the pair with max and min so far */   
  while (i < n-1)  
  {          
    if (arr[i] > arr[i+1])          
    {
      if(arr[i] > minmax.max)        
        minmax.max = arr[i];
      if(arr[i+1] < minmax.min)          
        minmax.min = arr[i+1];        
    } 
    else        
    {
      if (arr[i+1] > minmax.max)        
        minmax.max = arr[i+1];
      if (arr[i] < minmax.min)          
        minmax.min = arr[i];        
    }        
    i += 2; /* Increment the index by 2 as two 
               elements are processed in loop */
  }            
 
  return minmax;
}    
 
/* Driver program to test above function */
int main()
{
  int arr[] = {1000, 11, 445, 1, 330, 3000};
  int arr_size = 6;
  struct pair minmax = getMinMax (arr, arr_size);
  printf("nMinimum element is %d", minmax.min);
  printf("nMaximum element is %d", minmax.max);
  getchar();
}

(The “C” implementation is taken from (geekforgeeks-method3)[https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/maximum-and-minimum-in-an-array/] )

Analysis of the total of comparisons. If n is odd, then we perform 3floor(n/2) comparisons. If *n is even, we perform 1 initial comparison followed by 3(n-2)/2 comparisons, for a total of 3n/2 - 2. Thus either case, the total number of comparisons is at most 3*floor(n/2)

Selection in expected linear time

The general selection problem appears more difficult than the simple problem of finding a minimum. The problem of selection could be stands as we have to find i th smallest object. The first algorithmic reduction way of the solution of this problem is use sorting algorithm first and then just go for ith element of the sorted array. But then it will take at average O(n lg n).

There is another solution for such type of problems and its called Randomized selection algorithm. RANDOMIZED-SELECT uses the procedure RANDOMIZED-PARTITION introduced in a quicksort algorithm.

RANDOMIZED-SELECT(A, p, r, i)
if p == r
   return A[p]
q = RANDOMIZED-PARTITION(A, p, r)
k = q - p + 1
if i == k         // the pivot value is the answer
   return A[q]
else if i < k
   return RANDOMIZED-SELECT(A, p, q - 1, i)
else
  return  RANDOMIZED-SELECT(A, q + 1, r, i - k)

Randomized select form (coursera)[https://www.coursera.org/lecture/algorithms-divide-conquer/randomized-selection-algorithm-aqUNa]

Good example demonstration is given at (here)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHaaFVmAsvA]