Charge and reduce: A fixed-parameter algorithm for String-to-String Correction

String distance problems typically ask for a minimum number of permitted operations to transform one string into another. Such problems find application in a wide variety of areas, including error-correcting codes, parsing theory, speech recognition, and computational biology, to name a few. Here we...

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Veröffentlicht in:Discrete optimization Jg. 8; H. 1; S. 41 - 49
Hauptverfasser: Abu-Khzam, Faisal N., Fernau, Henning, Langston, Michael A., Lee-Cultura, Serena, Stege, Ulrike
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2011
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ISSN:1572-5286, 1873-636X
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Zusammenfassung:String distance problems typically ask for a minimum number of permitted operations to transform one string into another. Such problems find application in a wide variety of areas, including error-correcting codes, parsing theory, speech recognition, and computational biology, to name a few. Here we consider a classic string distance problem, the N P -complete String-to-String Correction problem, first studied by Wagner some 35 years ago. In this problem, we are asked whether it is possible to transform string x into string y with at most k operations on x , where permitted operations are single-character deletions and adjacent character exchanges. We prove that String-to-String Correction is fixed-parameter tractable, for parameter k , and present a simple fixed-parameter algorithm that solves the problem in O ( 2 k n ) time. We also devise a bounded search tree algorithm, and introduce a bookkeeping technique that we call charge and reduce. This leads to an algorithm whose running time is O ( 1.618 1 k n ) .
ISSN:1572-5286
1873-636X
DOI:10.1016/j.disopt.2010.10.003