我在读CLRS的《算法导论》。在第二章中,作者提到了“循环不变量”。什么是循环不变量?


当前回答

值得注意的是,循环不变量可以帮助迭代算法的设计,因为它被认为是一个断言,表示变量之间的重要关系,在每次迭代开始时和循环结束时,这些关系必须为真。如果这是成立的,计算是在有效的道路上。如果为false,则算法失败。

其他回答

对不起,我没有评论权限。

正如你提到的@Tomas Petricek

另一个较弱的不变式也是成立的,即i >= 0 && i < 10(因为这是连续条件!)”

为什么它是循环不变量?

我希望我没有错,据我理解[1],循环不变将在循环开始时为真(初始化),它将在每次迭代(维护)之前和之后为真,它也将在循环结束后为真(终止)。但是在最后一次迭代之后,i变成了10。因此,条件i >= 0 && i < 10变为假值并终止循环。它违反了循环不变量的第三个性质(终止)。

[1] http://www.win.tue.nl/~kbuchin/teaching/JBP030/notebooks/loop-invariants.html

简单地说,循环不变量是对循环的每次迭代都成立的某个谓词(条件)。例如,让我们看一个简单的For循环,它是这样的:

int j = 9;
for(int i=0; i<10; i++)  
  j--;

在这个例子中,i + j == 9(对于每个迭代)是正确的。一个较弱的不变式也是成立的 I >= 0 && I <= 10。

It is hard to keep track of what is happening with loops. Loops which don't terminate or terminate without achieving their goal behavior is a common problem in computer programming. Loop invariants help. A loop invariant is a formal statement about the relationship between variables in your program which holds true just before the loop is ever run (establishing the invariant) and is true again at the bottom of the loop, each time through the loop (maintaining the invariant). Here is the general pattern of the use of Loop Invariants in your code:

... // the Loop Invariant must be true here while ( TEST CONDITION ) { // top of the loop ... // bottom of the loop // the Loop Invariant must be true here } // Termination + Loop Invariant = Goal ... Between the top and bottom of the loop, headway is presumably being made towards reaching the loop's goal. This might disturb (make false) the invariant. The point of Loop Invariants is the promise that the invariant will be restored before repeating the loop body each time. There are two advantages to this:

Work is not carried forward to the next pass in complicated, data dependent ways. Each pass through the loop in independent of all others, with the invariant serving to bind the passes together into a working whole. Reasoning that your loop works is reduced to reasoning that the loop invariant is restored with each pass through the loop. This breaks the complicated overall behavior of the loop into small simple steps, each which can be considered separately. The test condition of the loop is not part of the invariant. It is what makes the loop terminate. You consider separately two things: why the loop should ever terminate, and why the loop achieves its goal when it terminates. The loop will terminate if each time through the loop you move closer to satisfying the termination condition. It is often easy to assure this: e.g. stepping a counter variable by one until it reaches a fixed upper limit. Sometimes the reasoning behind termination is more difficult.

应该创建循环不变量,以便当达到终止条件时,且不变量为真,则达到目标:

不变+终止=>目标 它需要实践来创建简单而相关的不变式,这些不变式捕获了除了终止之外的所有目标实现。最好使用数学符号来表示循环不变量,但当这导致过于复杂的情况时,我们依赖于清晰的散文和常识。

除了这些不错的答案,我想Jeff Edmonds在《如何思考算法》(How to Think About Algorithms)中举的一个很好的例子可以很好地说明这个概念:

EXAMPLE 1.2.1 "The Find-Max Two-Finger Algorithm" 1) Specifications: An input instance consists of a list L(1..n) of elements. The output consists of an index i such that L(i) has maximum value. If there are multiple entries with this same value, then any one of them is returned. 2) Basic Steps: You decide on the two-finger method. Your right finger runs down the list. 3) Measure of Progress: The measure of progress is how far along the list your right finger is. 4) The Loop Invariant: The loop invariant states that your left finger points to one of the largest entries encountered so far by your right finger. 5) Main Steps: Each iteration, you move your right finger down one entry in the list. If your right finger is now pointing at an entry that is larger then the left finger’s entry, then move your left finger to be with your right finger. 6) Make Progress: You make progress because your right finger moves one entry. 7) Maintain Loop Invariant: You know that the loop invariant has been maintained as follows. For each step, the new left finger element is Max(old left finger element, new element). By the loop invariant, this is Max(Max(shorter list), new element). Mathe- matically, this is Max(longer list). 8) Establishing the Loop Invariant: You initially establish the loop invariant by point- ing both fingers to the first element. 9) Exit Condition: You are done when your right finger has finished traversing the list. 10) Ending: In the end, we know the problem is solved as follows. By the exit condi- tion, your right finger has encountered all of the entries. By the loop invariant, your left finger points at the maximum of these. Return this entry. 11) Termination and Running Time: The time required is some constant times the length of the list. 12) Special Cases: Check what happens when there are multiple entries with the same value or when n = 0 or n = 1. 13) Coding and Implementation Details: ... 14) Formal Proof: The correctness of the algorithm follows from the above steps.

在线性搜索(根据书中给出的练习)中,我们需要在给定的数组中找到值V。

它很简单,从0 <= k < length开始扫描数组并比较每个元素。如果找到V,或者扫描到数组的长度,就终止循环。

根据我对上述问题的理解-

循环不变量(初始化): 在k - 1迭代中找不到V。第一次迭代,这是-1因此我们可以说V不在-1位置

保养: 在下一次迭代中,V不在k-1中成立

Terminatation: 如果V位于k个位置,或者k达到数组的长度,则终止循环。