Time bounds for selection*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-0000(73)80033-9Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

The number of comparisons required to select the i-th smallest of n numbers is shown to be at most a linear function of n by analysis of a new selection algorithm—PICK. Specifically, no more than 5.4305 n comparisons are ever required. This bound is improved for extreme values of i, and a new lower bound on the requisite number of comparisons is also proved.

Cited by (0)

*

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant GJ-992.