Intro to Algorithms: CHAPTER 21: FIBONACCI HEAPS

Intro to Algorithms: CHAPTER 21: FIBONACCI HEAPS

CHAPTER 21: FIBONACCI HEAPS

In Chapter 20, we saw how binomial heaps support in O(lg n) worst-case time the mergeable-heap operations INSERT, MINIMUM, EXTRACT-MIN, and UNION, plus the operations DECREASE-KEY and DELETE. In this chapter, we shall examine Fibonacci heaps, which support the same operations but have the advantage that operations that do not involve deleting an element run in O(1) amortized time.

From a theoretical standpoint, Fibonacci heaps are especially desirable when the number of EXTRACT-MIN and DELETE operations is small relative to the number of other operations performed. This situation arises in many applications. For example, some algorithms for graph problems may call DECREASE-KEY once per edge. For dense graphs, which have many edges, the O(1) amortized time of each call of DECREASE-KEY adds up to a big improvement over the(lg n) worst-case time of binary or binomial heaps. The asymptotically fastest algorithms to date for problems such as computing minimum spanning trees (Chapter 24) and finding single-source shortest paths (Chapter 25) make essential use of Fibonacci heaps.

From a practical point of view, however, the constant factors and programming complexity of Fibonacci heaps make them less desirable than ordinary binary (or k-ary) heaps for most applications. Thus, Fibonacci heaps are predominantly of theoretical interest. If a much simpler data structure with the same amortized time bounds as Fibonacci heaps were developed, it would be of great practical use as well.

Like a binomial heap, a Fibonacci heap is a collection of trees. Fibonacci heaps, in fact, are loosely based on binomial heaps. If neither DECREASE-KEY nor DELETE is ever invoked on a Fibonacci heap, each tree in the heap is like a binomial tree. Fibonacci heaps differ from binomial heaps, however, in that they have a more relaxed structure, allowing for improved asymptotic time bounds. Work that maintains the structure can be delayed until it is convenient to perform.

Like the dynamic tables of Section 18.4, Fibonacci heaps offer a good example of a data structure designed with amortized analysis in mind. The intuition and analyses of Fibonacci heap operations in the remainder of this chapter rely heavily on the potential method of Section 18.3.

The exposition in this chapter assumes that you have read Chapter 20 on binomial heaps. The specifications for the operations appear in that chapter, as does the table in Figure 20.1, which summarizes the time bounds for operations on binary heaps, binomial heaps, and Fibonacci heaps. Our presentation of the structure of Fibonacci heaps relies on that of binomial heap structure. You will also find that some of the operations performed on Fibonacci heaps are similar to those performed on binomial heaps.

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