Exercise 4.4.8

Use a recursion tree to give an asymptotically tight solution to the recurrence $T(n) = T(n-a) + T(a) + cn$, where $a \ge 1$ and $c > 0$ are constants.

The tree height is $n/a$ and each level is $c(n-ia)$. Thus:

$$ T(n) = \sum_{i=0}^{n/a}c(n-ia) + (n/a)ca = \sum_{i=0}^{n/a}cn - \sum_{i=0}^{n/a}cia + (n/a)ca = cn^2/a - \Theta(n) + \Theta(n) = \Theta(n^2) $$

Another approach is:

$$ \begin{aligned} T(n) &= cn + T(a) + T(n - a) + T(a) \\ &= cn + ca + c(n-a) + T(a) + T(n - 2a) \\ &= cn + c(n-a) + 2ca + c(n - 2a) + T(a) + T(n - 3a) \\ &= cn + c(n-a) + c(n - 2a) + c(n - 3a) + T(n - 4a) + 3ca + T(a) \\ &= \frac{n(n+1)}{2a} + cn \\ &= \Theta(n^2) \end{aligned} $$

We can guess $T(n) \le cn^2$:

$$ \begin{aligned} T(n) & \le c(n-a)^2 + ca + cn \\ & \le cn^2 - 2acn + ca + cn \\ & \le cn^2 - c(2an - a - n) & (a > 1/2, n > 2a) \\ & \le cn^2 - cn \\ & \le cn^2 \\ & = \Theta(n^2) \end{aligned} $$

We can guess $T(n) \ge cn^2$:

$$ \begin{aligned} T(n) & \ge c(n-a)^2 + ca + cn \\ & \ge cn^2 - 2acn + ca + cn \\ & \ge cn^2 - c(2an - a - n) & (a < 1/2, n > 2a) \\ & \ge cn^2 + cn \\ & \ge cn^2 \\ & = \Theta(n^2) \end{aligned} $$