book

Dive Into Algorithms

by Bradford Tuckfield

January 2021

Beginner to intermediate

248 pages

7h 2m

English

No Starch Press

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About the Technical Reviewer
Who Is This Book For?About This BookSetting Up the EnvironmentInstall Python on WindowsInstall Python on macOSInstall Python on LinuxInstalling Third-Party ModulesSummary
The Analytic ApproachThe Galilean ModelThe Solve-for-x StrategyThe Inner PhysicistThe Algorithmic ApproachThinking with Your NeckApplying Chapman’s AlgorithmSolving Problems with AlgorithmsSummary
Russian Peasant MultiplicationDoing RPM by HandImplementing RPM in PythonEuclid’s AlgorithmDoing Euclid’s Algorithm by HandImplementing Euclid’s Algorithm in PythonJapanese Magic SquaresCreating the Luo Shu Square in PythonImplementing Kurushima's Algorithm in PythonSummary
Setting Tax RatesSteps in the Right DirectionTurning the Steps into an AlgorithmObjections to Gradient AscentThe Problem of Local ExtremaEducation and Lifetime IncomeClimbing the Education Hill—the Right WayFrom Maximization to MinimizationHill Climbing in GeneralWhen Not to Use an AlgorithmSummary

Insertion SortPutting the Insertion in Insertion SortSorting via InsertionMeasuring Algorithm EfficiencyWhy Aim for Efficiency?Measuring Time PreciselyCounting StepsComparing to Well-Known FunctionsAdding Even More Theoretical PrecisionUsing Big O NotationMerge SortMergingFrom Merging to SortingSleep SortFrom Sorting to SearchingBinary SearchApplications of Binary SearchSummary
Continued FractionsCompressing and Communicating PhiMore about Continued FractionsAn Algorithm for Generating Continued FractionsFrom Decimals to Continued FractionsFrom Fractions to RadicalsSquare RootsThe Babylonian AlgorithmSquare Roots in PythonRandom Number GeneratorsThe Possibility of RandomnessLinear Congruential GeneratorsJudging a PRNGThe Diehard Tests for RandomnessLinear Feedback Shift RegistersSummary
Life of a SalesmanSetting Up the ProblemBrains vs. BrawnThe Nearest Neighbor AlgorithmImplementing Nearest Neighbor SearchChecking for Further ImprovementsAlgorithms for the AvariciousIntroducing the Temperature FunctionSimulated AnnealingTuning Our AlgorithmAvoiding Major SetbacksAllowing ResetsTesting Our PerformanceSummary
The Postmaster ProblemTriangles 101Advanced Graduate-Level Triangle StudiesFinding the CircumcenterIncreasing Our Plotting CapabilitiesDelaunay TriangulationIncrementally Generating Delaunay TriangulationsImplementing Delaunay TriangulationsFrom Delaunay to VoronoiSummary
Why Language Algorithms Are HardSpace InsertionDefining a Word List and Finding WordsDealing with Compound WordsChecking Between Existing Spaces for Potential WordsUsing an Imported Corpus to Check for Valid WordsFinding First and Second Halves of Potential WordsPhrase CompletionTokenizing and Getting N-gramsOur StrategyFinding Candidate n + 1-gramsSelecting a Phrase Based on FrequencySummary
Decision TreesBuilding a Decision TreeDownloading Our DatasetLooking at the DataSplitting Our DataSmarter SplittingChoosing Splitting VariablesAdding DepthEvaluating Our Decision TreeThe Problem of OverfittingImprovements and RefinementsRandom ForestsSummary
La PipopipetteDrawing the BoardRepresenting GamesScoring GamesGame Trees and How to Win a GameBuilding Our TreeWinning a GameAdding EnhancementsSummary
Doing More with AlgorithmsBuilding a ChatbotText VectorizationVector SimilarityBecoming Better and FasterAlgorithms for the AmbitiousSolving the Deepest Mysteries

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About the Author

Bradford Tuckfield is a data scientist and writer. He runs a data science consulting firm called Kmbara (https://kmbara.com/) and a fiction website called Dreamtigers (http://thedreamtigers.com/).

About the Technical Reviewer

Alok Malik is a data scientist based in New Delhi, India. He works on developing deep learning models in both natural language processing and computer vision with Python. He has developed and deployed solutions such as language models, image and text classifiers, language translators, speech-to-text models, named entity recognizers, and object detectors. He has also co-authored a book on machine learning. In his free time he likes to read about finance, do MOOCs, and play video games on his console.