by M H Alsuwaiyel (King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia)

Problem solving is an essential part of every scientific discipline. It has two components: (1) problem identification and formulation, and (2) solution of the formulated problem. One can solve a problem on its own using ad hoc techniques or follow those techniques that have produced efficient solutions to similar problems. This requires the understanding of various algorithm design techniques, how and when to use them to formulate solutions and the context appropriate for each of them. This book advocates the study of algorithm design techniques by presenting most of the useful algorithm design techniques and illustrating them through numerous examples.

• Basic Concepts and Introduction to Algorithms:
  • Basic Concepts in Algorithmic Analysis
  • Mathematical Preliminaries
  • Data Structures
  • Heaps and the Disjoint Sets Data Structures
• Techniques Based on Recursion:
  • Induction
  • Divide and Conquer
  • Dynamic Programming
• First-Cut Techniques:
  • The Greedy Approach
  • Graph Traversal
• Complexity of Problems:
  • NP-Complete Problems
  • Introduction to Computational Complexity
  • Lower Bounds
• Coping with Hardness:
  • Backtracking
  • Randomized Algorithms
  • Approximation Algorithms
• Iterative Improvement for Domain-Specific Problems:
  • Network Flow
  • Matching
• Techniques in Computational Geometry:
  • Geometric Sweeping
  • Voronoi Diagrams