Longest simple path in a directed acyclic graph Suppose that we are given a directed acyclic graph G D .V; E/ with realvalued edge weights and two distinguished vertices s and t. Describe a dynamicprogramming approach for finding a longest weighted simple path from s to t. What does the subproblem graph look like? What is the efficiency of your algorithm?
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Textbook Solutions for Introduction to Algorithms
Question
Breaking a string A certain string-processing language allows a programmer to break a string into two pieces. Because this operation copies the string, it costs n time units to break a string of n characters into two pieces. Suppose a programmer wants to break a string into many pieces. The order in which the breaks occur can affect the total amount of time used. For example, suppose that the programmer wants to break a 20-character string after characters 2, 8, and 10 (numbering the characters in ascending order from the left-hand end, starting from 1). If she programs the breaks to occur in left-to-right order, then the first break costs 20 time units, the second break costs 18 time units (breaking the string from characters 3 to 20 at character 8), and the third break costs 12 time units, totaling 50 time units. If she programs the breaks to occur in right-to-left order, however, then the first break costs 20 time units, the second break costs 10 time units, and the third break costs 8 time units, totaling 38 time units. In yet another order, she could break first at 8 (costing 20), then break the left piece at 2 (costing 8), and finally the right piece at 10 (costing 12), for a total cost of 40. Design an algorithm that, given the numbers of characters after which to break, determines a least-cost way to sequence those breaks. More formally, given a string S with n characters and an array L1 : : m containing the break points, compute the lowest cost for a sequence of breaks, along with a sequence of breaks that achieves this cost.
Solution
The first step in solving 15 problem number 9 trying to solve the problem we have to refer to the textbook question: Breaking a string A certain string-processing language allows a programmer to break a string into two pieces. Because this operation copies the string, it costs n time units to break a string of n characters into two pieces. Suppose a programmer wants to break a string into many pieces. The order in which the breaks occur can affect the total amount of time used. For example, suppose that the programmer wants to break a 20-character string after characters 2, 8, and 10 (numbering the characters in ascending order from the left-hand end, starting from 1). If she programs the breaks to occur in left-to-right order, then the first break costs 20 time units, the second break costs 18 time units (breaking the string from characters 3 to 20 at character 8), and the third break costs 12 time units, totaling 50 time units. If she programs the breaks to occur in right-to-left order, however, then the first break costs 20 time units, the second break costs 10 time units, and the third break costs 8 time units, totaling 38 time units. In yet another order, she could break first at 8 (costing 20), then break the left piece at 2 (costing 8), and finally the right piece at 10 (costing 12), for a total cost of 40. Design an algorithm that, given the numbers of characters after which to break, determines a least-cost way to sequence those breaks. More formally, given a string S with n characters and an array L1 : : m containing the break points, compute the lowest cost for a sequence of breaks, along with a sequence of breaks that achieves this cost.
From the textbook chapter Dynamic Programming you will find a few key concepts needed to solve this.
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