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Here is a recursive definition for the runtime of some unspecified function. $a$ and $c$ are positive constants.

$T(n) = a$, if $n = 2$

$T(n) = 2T(n/2) + cn$ if $n > 2$ Use induction to prove that $T(n) = \Theta(n \log n)$

Any idea on how to solve this?

Carol Doner
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Hint: If $T(n/2) \leq M \frac{n}{2} \log \frac{n}{2}$ then $$ T(n) = 2T(n/2) + cn \leq Mn\log \frac{n}{2} + cn \leq Mn\log n +n (c-M\log 2). $$ The lower bound should be similar.

Yuval Filmus
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  • Then can we assume that n(c-Mlog2) gets more and more negligible as n gets larger and larger, thus the Big Oh part of the proof is done? Or I should include more calculations for this? – Carol Doner Oct 20 '14 at 22:55
  • No, a proof doesn't work this way. For the induction to work you really need to prove that $T(n) \leq Mn\log n$. – Yuval Filmus Oct 21 '14 at 02:53