Predecessor Search
Predecessor Search GONZALO NAVARRO and JAVIEL ROJAS-LEDESMA, Millennium Institute for Foundational Research on Data (IMFD), Department of Computer Science, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. The predecessor problem is a key component of the fundamental sorting-and-searching core of algorithmic problems. While binary search is the optimal solution in the comparison model, more realistic machine models on integer sets open the door to a rich universe of data structures, algorithms, and lower bounds. In this article we review the evolution of the solutions to the predecessor problem, focusing on the important algorithmic ideas, from the famous data structure of van Emde Boas to the optimal results of Patrascu and Thorup. We also consider lower bounds, variants and special cases, as well as the remaining open questions. CCS Concepts: • Theory of computation → Predecessor queries; Sorting and searching. Additional Key Words and Phrases: Integer data structures, integer sorting, RAM model, cell-probe model ACM Reference Format: Gonzalo Navarro and Javiel Rojas-Ledesma. 2019. Predecessor Search. ACM Comput. Surv. 0, 0, Article 0 ( 2019), 37 pages. https://doi.org/0 1 INTRODUCTION Assume we have a set - of = keys from a universe * with a total order. In the predecessor problem, one is given a query element @ 2 * , and is asked to find the maximum ? 2 - such that ? ≤ @ (the predecessor of @). This is an extension of the more basic membership problem, which only aims to find whether @ 2 -. Both are fundamental algorithmic problems that compose the “sorting and searching” core, which lies at the base of virtually every other area and application in Computer Science (e.g., see [7, 22, 37, 58, 59, 65, 75]).
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