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I am trying to solve this recurrence $T(n) = 6 T(\frac{n}{3}) + n$.

1st recurrence: $6^2T(\frac{n}{3^2}) + \frac{6n}{3} + n$

2nd: $6^3T(\frac{n}{3^3}) + \frac{6^3n}{3^2} + n$

3rd: $6^4T(\frac{n}{3^4}) + \frac{6^6n}{3^3} + n$

I am having trouble describing the general pattern after the k-th iteration.

aryamank
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  • Please define $n$, the range it covers, what is $n/3$ for instance if $n$ is integer (but not divisible by three), and what is the k in the title / in the k-th iteration? Do we need to get a formula for $T(n)$ in terms of $T(n/3^k)$ (or in terms of $T(n/3^{k+1})$? – dan_fulea Nov 24 '18 at 00:46
  • Assume base case T(1) = 1. We need to get the general pattern for T(n) after the k-th iteration, for example T(n) = 6^k T(n/3^k) + ... – aryamank Nov 24 '18 at 00:59

2 Answers2

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I assume you are looking to find $T(n)$ after K iterations. First $$ T(n) = 6 T(n/3) + n$$ then rewriting $T(n/3)$ in terms of $T(n/3^2)$ we conclude: $$ T(n) = 6^2 T(n/3^2) + 6n/3 +n $$ similarly $T(n)$ after K iterations becomes: $$ T(n) = 6^K T(n/ 3^K) + \sum_{i=1} ^K 6^{i-1}n/3^{i-1} $$ or $$ T(n) = 6^K T(n/ 3^K) + (2^{K}-1)n $$

user609189
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If you are trying to solve the recurrence, try finding the initial pattern and the number of terms - this will help solve the equation in most of the cases.

In the first step, we have $n$ work to do, we do $n$ work and have 6 problems of the same type but of size $\frac{n}{3}$ this time.

In the second step, we have $\frac{n}{3}$ work to do, we do $\frac{n}{3}$ work and have 6 problems of the same type but of size $\frac{n}{9}$ this time. We have 6 problems of this type.

In the third step, we have $\frac{n}{9}$ work to do, we do $\frac{n}{9}$ work and have 6 problems of the same type but of size $\frac{n}{27}$ this time. We have 6 problems of this type.

This gives the equation,

$T(n) = n + 6(\frac{n}{3}) + 36 (\frac{n}{9}) + 216(\frac{n}{27}) + ... + $

$T(n) = n + 2n + 4n + 8n + ... $

You will have $log_{3}n$ such terms, as you are cutting down the problem size by a factor of three all the time. This is a sum of a geometric series, given the number of terms and common ratio, it is easy to sum.

$T(n) = n + 2n + 4n + 8n + ... + 2^{log_{3}n}n $

Kth term will be of the form $2^{k}n$.

The solution should be $\Theta(n^{log_{3}6})$.

rranjik
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