Greedy Algorithms

Interval Scheduling: Section 4.1

Greedy Algorithms
p Optimization problems involve profit
maximization (or cost minimization) under
resource constraints
p Greedy Algorithms build solutions step-by-
step: each step uses “locally optimal”
(short-sighted?) rules to optimize the
objective function

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 Greed
p “Greed … is good.
Greed is right. Greed
works.”
-- Gordon Gekko
(Michael Douglas) in
the movie Wall Street

Knapsack Problem

Bag of fixed size Chocolates of different sizes

How to maximize the amount of chocolate packed?

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 Knapsack Problem: greedy

Knapsack Problem: optimal

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 Interval scheduling
p Set of jobs {1, 2, …, n}
p Job i starts at time si and ends at time fi
p Two jobs compatible if they do not overlap
p Goal: find the maximum subset of
mutually compatible jobs

Interval scheduling

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 Interval scheduling: greed algorithms
p Greedy approach
n Consider jobs in a specific order
n Choose the “current best” job
n Delete all other jobs that are not compatible
with this job

Interval scheduling: greedy algorithms

p [Earliest start time] Consider jobs in the
ascending order of their start times si
p [Earliest finish time] Consider jobs in
the ascending order of their finish times fi
p [Shortest interval] Consider jobs in the
ascending order of their lengths fi – si
p [Fewest conflicts] For each job i, count
the number of conflicting jobs ci. Consider
jobs in the ascending order of ci

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 Interval scheduling: greedy algorithms

Earliest finish time

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 Earliest finish time

Analysis
p Running time = O(n log n)
p Let A be the solution of the greedy
algorithm
n A is a compatible set of requests

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 Analysis
p Running time = O(n log n)
p Let A be the solution of the greedy
algorithm (earliest finish time algo.)
n A is a compatible set of requests
n A is optimal

Greedy stays ahead

p Let A = i1, i2 , …, ik
p Let OPT be the optimal solution
n OPT = j1,j2,…,jm
p Both A and OPT are arranged in the
natural interval order
p Need to show that k ≥ m

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 Greedy stays ahead
p [4.2] For all indices r ≤ k we have f(ir) ≤
f(jr)

Greedy stays ahead

p [4.2] For all indices r ≤ k we have f(ir) ≤ f(jr)
p Proof by induction
n Base case: r = 1. Greedy picks the earliest finish time
n Assume f(ir-1) ≤ f(jr-1)
n Can the greedy algorithm’s rth job really finish later than
OPT’s?

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 Greedy stays ahead
p [4.2] For all indices r ≤ k we have f(ir) ≤ f(jr)
p Proof by induction
n Base case: r = 1. Greedy picks the earliest finish time
n Assume f(ir-1) ≤ f(jr-1)

Greedy stays ahead

p [4.2] For all indices r ≤ k we have f(ir) ≤
f(jr)
p Proof by induction
n Base case: r = 1. Greedy picks the earliest
finish time
n Hypothesis: Let r > 1; assume f(ir-1) ≤ f(jr-1)
n Induction step
p f(ir-1) ≤ f(jr-1) ≤ s(jr)
p Job jr is available after jr-1 finishes for greedy algo;
greedy goes for one with least finish time
p Hence f(ir) ≤ f(jr)

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 Greedy is optimal
p [4.3] The greedy algorithm returns an
optimal set A
n Proof by contradiction: Assume A is not
optimal; lets see what happens
n Let |A| = k and |OPT| = m > k
n f(ik) ≤ f(jk) ≤ s(jk+1)
n After finishing job jk, job jk+1 is available for
greedy – contradicts termination condition for
greedy

Scheduling all intervals: Interval

partitioning problem
p Set of lectures {1, 2, …, n}
p Lecture i starts at time si and ends at fi
p We need to schedule all lectures
n What is the minimum n

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