我相信有一种方法可以找到长度为n的O(n)无序数组中第k大的元素。也可能是期望O(n)之类的。我们该怎么做呢?
当前回答
虽然不是很确定O(n)复杂度，但肯定在O(n)和nLog(n)之间。也肯定更接近于O(n)而不是nLog(n)函数是用Java编写的
public int quickSelect(ArrayList<Integer>list, int nthSmallest){
//Choose random number in range of 0 to array length
Random random = new Random();
//This will give random number which is not greater than length - 1
int pivotIndex = random.nextInt(list.size() - 1);
int pivot = list.get(pivotIndex);
ArrayList<Integer> smallerNumberList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
ArrayList<Integer> greaterNumberList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
//Split list into two.
//Value smaller than pivot should go to smallerNumberList
//Value greater than pivot should go to greaterNumberList
//Do nothing for value which is equal to pivot
for(int i=0; i<list.size(); i++){
if(list.get(i)<pivot){
smallerNumberList.add(list.get(i));
}
else if(list.get(i)>pivot){
greaterNumberList.add(list.get(i));
}
else{
//Do nothing
}
}
//If smallerNumberList size is greater than nthSmallest value, nthSmallest number must be in this list
if(nthSmallest < smallerNumberList.size()){
return quickSelect(smallerNumberList, nthSmallest);
}
//If nthSmallest is greater than [ list.size() - greaterNumberList.size() ], nthSmallest number must be in this list
//The step is bit tricky. If confusing, please see the above loop once again for clarification.
else if(nthSmallest > (list.size() - greaterNumberList.size())){
//nthSmallest will have to be changed here. [ list.size() - greaterNumberList.size() ] elements are already in
//smallerNumberList
nthSmallest = nthSmallest - (list.size() - greaterNumberList.size());
return quickSelect(greaterNumberList,nthSmallest);
}
else{
return pivot;
}
}
其他回答
在线性时间内找到数组的中值，然后使用与快速排序完全相同的划分程序将数组分为两部分，中值左边的值小于(<)中值，右边的值大于(>)中值，这也可以在线性时间内完成，现在，找到数组中第k个元素所在的部分， 现在递归式变成: T(n) = T(n/2) + cn 得到O (n) /。
下面是完整实现的链接，其中相当广泛地解释了在无序算法中查找第k个元素的算法是如何工作的。基本思想是像快速排序一样对数组进行分区。但为了避免极端情况(例如每一步都选择最小的元素作为主元，使算法运行时间退化为O(n^2))，采用特殊的主元选择，称为中位数的中位数算法。在最坏情况和平均情况下，整个解在O(n)时间内运行。
这里是全文的链接(它是关于寻找第k个最小的元素，但寻找第k个最大的元素的原理是相同的):
在无序数组中寻找第k个最小元素
如果你想要一个真正的O(n)算法，而不是O(kn)或类似的算法，那么你应该使用快速选择(它基本上是快速排序，你会丢弃你不感兴趣的分区)。我的教授写了一篇很棒的文章，包括运行时分析:(参考)
QuickSelect算法可以快速找到包含n个元素的无序数组中的第k个最小元素。这是一个随机算法，所以我们计算最坏情况下的预期运行时间。
这是算法。
QuickSelect(A, k)
let r be chosen uniformly at random in the range 1 to length(A)
let pivot = A[r]
let A1, A2 be new arrays
# split into a pile A1 of small elements and A2 of big elements
for i = 1 to n
if A[i] < pivot then
append A[i] to A1
else if A[i] > pivot then
append A[i] to A2
else
# do nothing
end for
if k <= length(A1):
# it's in the pile of small elements
return QuickSelect(A1, k)
else if k > length(A) - length(A2)
# it's in the pile of big elements
return QuickSelect(A2, k - (length(A) - length(A2))
else
# it's equal to the pivot
return pivot
这个算法的运行时间是多少?如果对手为我们抛硬币，我们可能会发现主元总是最大的元素，k总是1，给出的运行时间为
T(n) = Theta(n) + T(n-1) = Theta(n2)但如果选择确实是随机的，则预期运行时间由
T(n) <= Theta(n) + (1/n) ∑i=1 to nT(max(i, n-i-1))我们做了一个不完全合理的假设递归总是落在A1或A2中较大的那个。
让我们猜测对于某个a T(n) <= an，然后我们得到
T(n)
<= cn + (1/n) ∑i=1 to nT(max(i-1, n-i))
= cn + (1/n) ∑i=1 to floor(n/2) T(n-i) + (1/n) ∑i=floor(n/2)+1 to n T(i)
<= cn + 2 (1/n) ∑i=floor(n/2) to n T(i)
<= cn + 2 (1/n) ∑i=floor(n/2) to n ai现在我们要用加号右边这个可怕的和来吸收左边的cn。如果我们将其限定为2(1/n)∑i=n/2到n an，我们大致得到2(1/n)(n/2)an = an。但是这个太大了，没有多余的空间来挤进一个cn。让我们用等差级数公式展开和:
∑i=floor(n/2) to n i
= ∑i=1 to n i - ∑i=1 to floor(n/2) i
= n(n+1)/2 - floor(n/2)(floor(n/2)+1)/2
<= n2/2 - (n/4)2/2
= (15/32)n2我们利用n“足够大”的优势，用更干净(更小)的n/4替换丑陋的地板(n/2)因子。现在我们可以继续
cn + 2 (1/n) ∑i=floor(n/2) to n ai,
<= cn + (2a/n) (15/32) n2
= n (c + (15/16)a)
<= an提供了> 16c。
得到T(n) = O(n)显然是(n)所以我们得到T(n) = (n)
这是一个Javascript实现。
如果您释放了不能修改数组的约束，则可以使用两个索引来标识“当前分区”(经典快速排序样式- http://www.nczonline.net/blog/2012/11/27/computer-science-in-javascript-quicksort/)来防止使用额外的内存。
function kthMax(a, k){
var size = a.length;
var pivot = a[ parseInt(Math.random()*size) ]; //Another choice could have been (size / 2)
//Create an array with all element lower than the pivot and an array with all element higher than the pivot
var i, lowerArray = [], upperArray = [];
for (i = 0; i < size; i++){
var current = a[i];
if (current < pivot) {
lowerArray.push(current);
} else if (current > pivot) {
upperArray.push(current);
}
}
//Which one should I continue with?
if(k <= upperArray.length) {
//Upper
return kthMax(upperArray, k);
} else {
var newK = k - (size - lowerArray.length);
if (newK > 0) {
///Lower
return kthMax(lowerArray, newK);
} else {
//None ... it's the current pivot!
return pivot;
}
}
}
如果你想测试它的表现，你可以使用这个变量:
function kthMax (a, k, logging) {
var comparisonCount = 0; //Number of comparison that the algorithm uses
var memoryCount = 0; //Number of integers in memory that the algorithm uses
var _log = logging;
if(k < 0 || k >= a.length) {
if (_log) console.log ("k is out of range");
return false;
}
function _kthmax(a, k){
var size = a.length;
var pivot = a[parseInt(Math.random()*size)];
if(_log) console.log("Inputs:", a, "size="+size, "k="+k, "pivot="+pivot);
// This should never happen. Just a nice check in this exercise
// if you are playing with the code to avoid never ending recursion
if(typeof pivot === "undefined") {
if (_log) console.log ("Ops...");
return false;
}
var i, lowerArray = [], upperArray = [];
for (i = 0; i < size; i++){
var current = a[i];
if (current < pivot) {
comparisonCount += 1;
memoryCount++;
lowerArray.push(current);
} else if (current > pivot) {
comparisonCount += 2;
memoryCount++;
upperArray.push(current);
}
}
if(_log) console.log("Pivoting:",lowerArray, "*"+pivot+"*", upperArray);
if(k <= upperArray.length) {
comparisonCount += 1;
return _kthmax(upperArray, k);
} else if (k > size - lowerArray.length) {
comparisonCount += 2;
return _kthmax(lowerArray, k - (size - lowerArray.length));
} else {
comparisonCount += 2;
return pivot;
}
/*
* BTW, this is the logic for kthMin if we want to implement that... ;-)
*
if(k <= lowerArray.length) {
return kthMin(lowerArray, k);
} else if (k > size - upperArray.length) {
return kthMin(upperArray, k - (size - upperArray.length));
} else
return pivot;
*/
}
var result = _kthmax(a, k);
return {result: result, iterations: comparisonCount, memory: memoryCount};
}
剩下的代码只是创建一些游乐场:
function getRandomArray (n){
var ar = [];
for (var i = 0, l = n; i < l; i++) {
ar.push(Math.round(Math.random() * l))
}
return ar;
}
//Create a random array of 50 numbers
var ar = getRandomArray (50);
现在给你做几次测试。 因为Math.random()每次都会产生不同的结果:
kthMax(ar, 2, true);
kthMax(ar, 2);
kthMax(ar, 2);
kthMax(ar, 2);
kthMax(ar, 2);
kthMax(ar, 2);
kthMax(ar, 34, true);
kthMax(ar, 34);
kthMax(ar, 34);
kthMax(ar, 34);
kthMax(ar, 34);
kthMax(ar, 34);
如果你测试它几次，你甚至可以看到经验的迭代次数，平均来说，O(n) ~=常数* n, k的值不会影响算法。
function nthMax(arr, nth = 1, maxNumber = Infinity) {
let large = -Infinity;
for(e of arr) {
if(e > large && e < maxNumber ) {
large = e;
} else if (maxNumber == large) {
nth++;
}
}
return nth==0 ? maxNumber: nthMax(arr, nth-1, large);
}
let array = [11,12,12,34,23,34];
let secondlargest = nthMax(array, 1);
console.log("Number:", secondlargest);
