Example
A dynamic array is a data structure for maintaining an array of items, allowing both random access to positions within the array and the ability to increase the array size by one. It is available in Java as the "ArrayList" type and in Python as the "list" type. A dynamic array may be implemented by a data structure consisting of an array A of items, of some length N, together with a number n ≤ N representing the positions within the array that have been used so far. With this structure, random accesses to the dynamic array may be implemented by accessing the same cell of the internal array A, and when n < N an operation that increases the dynamic array size may be implemented simply by incrementing n. However, when n = N, it is necessary to resize A, and a common strategy for doing so is to double its size, replacing A by a new array of length 2n.
This structure may be analyzed using a potential function Φ = 2n − N. Since the resizing strategy always causes A to be at least half-full, this potential function is always non-negative, as desired. When an increase-size operation does not lead to a resize operation, Φ increases by 2, a constant. Therefore, the constant actual time of the operation and the constant increase in potential combine to give a constant amortized time for an operation of this type. However, when an increase-size operation causes a resize, the potential value of n prior to the resize decreases to zero after the resize. Allocating a new internal array A and copying all of the values from the old internal array to the new one takes O(n) actual time, but (with an appropriate choice of the constant of proportionality C) this is entirely cancelled by the decrease of n in the potential function, leaving again a constant total amortized time for the operation. The other operations of the data structure (reading and writing array cells without changing the array size) do not cause the potential function to change and have the same constant amortized time as their actual time.
Therefore, with this choice of resizing strategy and potential function, the potential method shows that all dynamic array operations take constant amortized time. Combining this with the inequality relating amortized time and actual time over sequences of operations, this shows that any sequence of n dynamic array operations takes O(n) actual time in the worst case, despite the fact that some of the individual operations may themselves take a linear amount of time.
Read more about this topic: Potential Method
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