Common Subwords and Subsequences - 3 | 3. Common Subwords and Subsequences | Design & Analysis of Algorithms - Vol 3
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3 - Common Subwords and Subsequences

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Interactive Audio Lesson

Listen to a student-teacher conversation explaining the topic in a relatable way.

Introduction to Common Subwords

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

Class, today we are going to learn about common subwords. Can anyone tell me what a subword is?

Student 1
Student 1

I think a subword is a part of a word?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! A subword is a contiguous segment of a word. For instance, in the word 'secret', 'sec' is a subword. Now, what do you think about finding a common subword?

Student 2
Student 2

Is it a part that appears in two different words?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! Common subwords appear in both words. For example, 'secret' and 'secretary' share the common subword 'secret'.

Teacher
Teacher

Let's remember this as the subword-segment relationship. Can anyone give me another example?

Student 3
Student 3

How about 'bisect' and 'trisect'—they have 'isect' as a common subword?

Teacher
Teacher

Great example! Keep this in mind as we dive deeper.

Brute-Force Approach

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

Now, let’s discuss the brute-force method for finding the longest common subword. Can anyone suggest how we might do that?

Student 4
Student 4

We could check each letter in both words?

Teacher
Teacher

Yes! We look at all possible starting positions in both words. If we run this algorithm, what will the complexity be?

Student 1
Student 1

It sounded like O(m * n²) from the lecture?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! M is the length of one word, and N is the length of the other. This means for each character, we are checking every other character until we reach a mismatch.

Inductive Approach

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

To enhance our method, we can use an inductive approach. Who can explain how this works?

Student 2
Student 2

We can compare letters and then reduce the problem size?

Teacher
Teacher

Absolutely! If we find a match, we can add to the length and continue comparing. What if they don't match?

Student 3
Student 3

Then we just stop and start over from the next letters?

Teacher
Teacher

Right! This allows us to significantly reduce unnecessary checks.

Dynamic Programming

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

Finally, we arrive at the dynamic programming solution. Can someone describe this approach.

Student 4
Student 4

We use a table to store common subword lengths?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! Each cell in the table corresponds to subproblems that we build upon. How do we populate this table, for example?

Student 1
Student 1

We check characters and if they match, we store the value from the diagonal plus one?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! And when they do not match, the length remains zero. This is efficient!

Extracting the Common Subword

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0:00
Teacher
Teacher

Now that we know how to find the length, who can tell me how we extract the common subword?

Student 2
Student 2

Do we trace back through the table?

Teacher
Teacher

Great job! We trace our steps back through the table, leveraging the information we’ve accumulated.

Student 3
Student 3

So, we follow the diagonal we mentioned earlier?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! The diagonal elements represent parts of our common subword.

Student 4
Student 4

This tracing allows us to see all candidates for the longest subword.

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! This understanding can reinforce your approach in algorithm design.

Teacher
Teacher

In summary, we defined subwords, discussed the brute-force method, transitioned to induction, and wrapped it up with dynamic programming while exploring subword extraction!

Introduction & Overview

Read a summary of the section's main ideas. Choose from Basic, Medium, or Detailed.

Quick Overview

This section discusses the problem of finding the longest common subword between two sequences, detailing the brute-force and dynamic programming approaches.

Standard

In this section, we explore the longest common subword problem, highlighting how to compute the length of the longest subword using brute-force methods and introducing a more efficient dynamic programming approach. This includes detailed examples and structures to visualize and solve the problem significantly.

Detailed

Detailed Summary

In this section, we delve deep into the problem of finding the longest common subword between two sequences of characters, typically strings. A subword is defined as a contiguous segment of a word. For example, in the words 'secret' and 'secretary', the longest common subword is 'secret', which has a length of 6.

The section begins by formalizing the problem by denoting two strings and defining what a common subword is. The initial focus is on creating a brute-force algorithm that examines all possible starting positions in both words, leading to a time complexity of O(m * n^2).

Next, the section introduces an inductive approach to improve the efficiency of finding the longest common subword. The key principle here is utilizing the recursive property—if we find a match at positions a_i and b_j, we can extend the search to the next characters in both strings. If they do not match, we seek the next potential starting position, thereby constructing a more efficient search mechanism.

The section concludes with a dynamic programming approach. It proposes the use of a two-dimensional table to store subproblem solutions—where each cell represents the length of the longest common subword found so far. By systematically updating this table, we can derive both the length of the longest common subword and easily backtrack to extract the subword itself. This yields a more efficient solution compared to the brute-force method, eliminating unnecessary computations.

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Audio Book

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Introduction to Common Subwords

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Let us now turn to the problem of finding Common Subwords and Subsequences between two sequences. The first problem we look at is what is called a longest common subword problem... our main goal at the moment is to compute not the subword itself, but the length.

Detailed Explanation

This chunk introduces the concept of common subwords, which are segments that appear in both sequences. The focus is on determining the length of the longest common segment without actually providing the subword.

Examples & Analogies

Imagine searching for the longest common phrase in two different books. You want to identify how many words in a row are the same in both, but you're not necessarily interested in what that phrase is, just how long it is.

Defining the Problem More Formally

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Let us look at this thing more formally, so we have two words a 0 to a m and b 0 to b n... I will say that u and v have a common subword of length k.

Detailed Explanation

Here, two sequences are represented mathematically, with indices marking the positions in each word. A common subword is defined as a matching segment of 'k' characters starting at positions 'i' and 'j' in each sequence.

Examples & Analogies

Think of stitching two pieces of fabric. You can only stitch where the fabric overlaps, and the length of the stitch represents the common segment. If you find a longer stitch, that means there's a longer common piece.

Brute Force Approach

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So, here is a Brute force algorithm... therefore, this will be O of m times n into n or O m n squared.

Detailed Explanation

This section describes a naive approach to determine the longest common subword. It involves checking every possible pair of starting positions in the two words and matching characters sequentially. The time complexity is O(mn^2), which can be inefficient for long words.

Examples & Analogies

Imagine using a manual method to compare every sentence in two books by reading each page one by one to spot similarities. It's exhaustive and time-consuming, illustrating the inefficiency of a brute force method.

Inductive Observation

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The first observation in the inductive observation is that if I have a i a i plus 1... adding to it, because the very first letter does not match.

Detailed Explanation

This chunk discusses leveraging an inductive approach to improve efficiency. It establishes that if two characters match at positions 'i' and 'j', the problem reduces to finding common subwords at 'i+1' and 'j+1'. Otherwise, no common subword can be extended from these positions.

Examples & Analogies

Consider comparing two people's shopping lists. If the first items match, you can check the next items for matches. If they don’t match, you might as well stop comparing further at that point.

Dynamic Programming Approach

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So, we could write a memorized recursive function for that... that is, if this square depends on this square.

Detailed Explanation

The text introduces the concept of dynamic programming to optimize the solution by storing intermediate results. Each entry in a table corresponds to calculated values indicating the length of common subwords, allowing for efficient lookups.

Examples & Analogies

Think of dynamic programming like saving your progress in a video game. Instead of starting over every time you make a mistake, you can go back to a safe point, saving time and effort.

Implementation of the Algorithm

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So, here is some code for this particular algorithm... you could invert these two indices and it row by row.

Detailed Explanation

Finally, this section shares an actual code implementation of the dynamic programming approach. It initializes a table to store the lengths of matching segments and iteratively fills in the values based on previous computations.

Examples & Analogies

Writing an instruction manual to guide how to play a game, ensuring players understand the steps they can take based on where they currently are in the game. Each step is built on the previous steps.

Definitions & Key Concepts

Learn essential terms and foundational ideas that form the basis of the topic.

Key Concepts

  • Longest Common Subword: The maximum length of a segment appearing in both words.

  • Brute-force Method: An exhaustive technique examining all possible matches.

  • Dynamic Programming: An advanced technique used for efficiency by storing results of subproblems.

Examples & Real-Life Applications

See how the concepts apply in real-world scenarios to understand their practical implications.

Examples

  • The longest common subword between 'director' and 'secretary' is 'ec' and 're', of length 2.

  • For the words 'abc' and 'bc', the longest common subword is 'bc', length 2.

Memory Aids

Use mnemonics, acronyms, or visual cues to help remember key information more easily.

🎵 Rhymes Time

  • In searching for a word that's common, look for segments, let’s keep it fun; a subword's where two words align, for longest matching, we'll combine.

📖 Fascinating Stories

  • Imagine two friends, Alice and Bob, who have overlapping stories. They want to find the longest part of their tales that matches. By sharing and checking their writings, they discover 'adventure' is a common theme!

🧠 Other Memory Gems

  • Subwords in two: Stand for Similarity; Underline the Basics!

🎯 Super Acronyms

LCS - Longest Common Subword, helps to remember it's all about those matching segments!

Flash Cards

Review key concepts with flashcards.

Glossary of Terms

Review the Definitions for terms.

  • Term: Subword

    Definition:

    A contiguous segment of a word.

  • Term: Longest Common Subword

    Definition:

    The longest contiguous segment found in two words.

  • Term: Bruteforce Algorithm

    Definition:

    An exhaustive search method that checks all positions.

  • Term: Dynamic Programming

    Definition:

    An optimization approach that solves problems by breaking them down into simpler subproblems.

  • Term: Induction

    Definition:

    A method of proving a property for all integers by establishing it for the base case and an arbitrary case.