POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.off-topic : Now I've seen everything Server Time
29 Jul 2024 06:18:20 EDT (-0400)
  Now I've seen everything (Message 1 to 6 of 6)  
From: Orchid Win7 v1
Subject: Now I've seen everything
Date: 4 Jun 2012 17:12:40
Message: <4fcd24c8@news.povray.org>
I was reading a description for a computer algorithm. Get this, the 
authors claim that the time-complexity is proportional to the "inverse 
Ackermann function".

That's a good thing, right? I mean, the Ackermann function grows 
absurdly fast, so its inverse presumably grows absurdly slowly.

(Quite how any algorithm's run-time could ever be proportional to 
something as obscure and arbitrarily defined as the inverse of the 
Ackermann function, I have no idea... I guess now I've seen everything.)


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From: Kevin Wampler
Subject: Re: Now I've seen everything
Date: 4 Jun 2012 17:25:17
Message: <4fcd27bd$1@news.povray.org>
On 6/4/2012 2:12 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> I was reading a description for a computer algorithm. Get this, the
> authors claim that the time-complexity is proportional to the "inverse
> Ackermann function".

Union-find structures I assume?


> (Quite how any algorithm's run-time could ever be proportional to
> something as obscure and arbitrarily defined as the inverse of the
> Ackermann function, I have no idea... I guess now I've seen everything.)

You could of course look a proof and read through it.


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From: Orchid Win7 v1
Subject: Re: Now I've seen everything
Date: 5 Jun 2012 03:34:46
Message: <4fcdb696$1@news.povray.org>
On 04/06/2012 10:25 PM, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> On 6/4/2012 2:12 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>> I was reading a description for a computer algorithm. Get this, the
>> authors claim that the time-complexity is proportional to the "inverse
>> Ackermann function".
>
> Union-find structures I assume?

Actually, something much more complicated than that.

> You could of course look a proof and read through it.

I saw the proof. It's about 20 pages of dense formulas. Clearly I'd need 
to study it very carefully to figure out what the hell is going on...


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From: Kevin Wampler
Subject: Re: Now I've seen everything
Date: 5 Jun 2012 13:06:22
Message: <4fce3c8e$1@news.povray.org>
On 6/5/2012 12:34 AM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 04/06/2012 10:25 PM, Kevin Wampler wrote:
>> On 6/4/2012 2:12 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>>> I was reading a description for a computer algorithm. Get this, the
>>> authors claim that the time-complexity is proportional to the "inverse
>>> Ackermann function".
>>
>> Union-find structures I assume?
>
> Actually, something much more complicated than that.

Intersting, what was it, I'm curious?  The only other algorithm with 
that complexity I can think of off the top of my head is an MST algorithm.

In that case, however, you may be further interested to know that the 
standard union-find algorithm also has inverse Acermann complexity. 
Thus there's an even simpler example of something with that "odd" 
complexity.

>
>> You could of course look a proof and read through it.
>
> I saw the proof. It's about 20 pages of dense formulas. Clearly I'd need
> to study it very carefully to figure out what the hell is going on...

Yeah, that proof does suck a little like that.


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Now I've seen everything
Date: 6 Jun 2012 03:57:35
Message: <4fcf0d6f$1@news.povray.org>
>>> Union-find structures I assume?
>>
>> Actually, something much more complicated than that.
>
> Intersting, what was it, I'm curious? The only other algorithm with that
> complexity I can think of off the top of my head is an MST algorithm.

An optimisation algorithm for logic programming.

> In that case, however, you may be further interested to know that the
> standard union-find algorithm also has inverse Acermann complexity. Thus
> there's an even simpler example of something with that "odd" complexity.

That's really odd. The Ackermann function is an ad hoc function with 
arbitrarily-chosen coefficients which was thrown together to prove a 
point. Why it should /ever/ occur in real life is beyond me...


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From: clipka
Subject: Re: Now I've seen everything
Date: 6 Jun 2012 11:40:31
Message: <4fcf79ef$1@news.povray.org>
Am 06.06.2012 09:57, schrieb Invisible:
>>>> Union-find structures I assume?
>>>
>>> Actually, something much more complicated than that.
>>
>> Intersting, what was it, I'm curious? The only other algorithm with that
>> complexity I can think of off the top of my head is an MST algorithm.
>
> An optimisation algorithm for logic programming.
>
>> In that case, however, you may be further interested to know that the
>> standard union-find algorithm also has inverse Acermann complexity. Thus
>> there's an even simpler example of something with that "odd" complexity.
>
> That's really odd. The Ackermann function is an ad hoc function with
> arbitrarily-chosen coefficients which was thrown together to prove a
> point. Why it should /ever/ occur in real life is beyond me...


function" (which is probably the case), then I see nothing 
"arbitrarily-chosen" in its recursive definition.

Maybe the Ackermann function you know is a different one? According to 
Wikipedia, "'the Ackermann function' may refer to any of numerous 
variants of the original function", modified "to suit various purposes".


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