Abstract

An incremental algorithm (also called a dynamic update algorithm) updates the answer to some problem after an incremental change is made in the input. We examine methods for bounding the performance of such algorithms. First, quite general but relatively weak bounds are considered, along with a careful examination of the conditions under which they hold. Next, a more powerful proof method, the Incremental Relative Lower Bound is presented, along with its application to a number of important problems. We then examine an alternative approach, delta-analysis, which had been proposed previously, apply it to several new problems and show how it can be extended. For the specific problem of updating the transitive closure of an acyclic digraph, we present the first known incremental algorithm that is efficient in the delta-analysis sense. Finally, we criti...

Citations