Searching, merging, and sorting in parallel computation

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · IEEE Trans. Comput.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/TC.1983.1676138· OSTI ID:5363554

Kruskal, C P

The number of comparison steps required for searching, merging, and sorting with >p> processors is studied. A merging algorithm is presented that is optimal up to a constant factor when merging two lists of equal size (independent of the number of processors); as a special case, with >n> processors it merges two lists, each of size >n>, in 1.893 lg lg >n> + 4 comparison steps. This algorithm is used to obtain a sorting algorithm that, in particular, sorts >n> values with >n> processors in 1.893 lg >n> lg lg >n>/lg lg lg >n> (plus lower order terms) comparison steps. The algorithms can be implemented on a shared-memory machine that allows concurrent reads from the same location with constant overhead at each comparison step. 8 references.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Illinois, Urbana
• OSTI ID: 5363554
• Journal Information: IEEE Trans. Comput.; (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Comput.; (United States) Vol. 10; ISSN ITCOB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990200* -- Mathematics & Computers
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COMPUTERS
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MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
PARALLEL PROCESSING
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