Lesson plan
Quickselect
In computer science, quickselect is a selection algorithm to find the kth smallest element in an unordered list, also known as the kth order statistic. Like the related quicksort sorting algorithm, it was developed by Tony Hoare, and thus is also known as Hoare's selection algorithm. Like quicksort, it is efficient in practice and has good average-case performance, but has poor worst-case performance. Quickselect and its variants are the selection algorithms most often used in efficient real-world implementations. Quickselect uses the same overall approach as quicksort, choosing one element as a pivot and partitioning the data in two based on the pivot, accordingly as less than or greater than the pivot. However, instead of recursing into both sides, as in quicksort, quickselect only recurses into one side – the side with the element it is searching for. This reduces the average complexity from O(n\log n) to O(n) , with a worst case of O(n^2) . As with quicksort, quickselect is generally implemented as an in-place algorithm, and beyond selecting the th element, it also partially sorts the data. See selection algorithm for further discussion of the connection with sorting.
Article summary
In computer science, quickselect is a selection algorithm to find the kth smallest element in an unordered list, also known as the kth order statistic. Like the related quicksort sorting algorithm, it was developed by Tony Hoare, and thus is also known as Hoare's selection algorithm. Like quicksort, it is efficient in practice and has good average-case performance, but has poor worst-case performance. Quickselect and its variants are the selection algorithms most often used in efficient real-world implementations. Quickselect uses the same overall approach as quicksort, choosing one element as a pivot and partitioning the data in two based on the pivot, accordingly as less than or greater than the pivot. However, instead of recursing into both sides, as in quicksort, quickselect only recurses into one side – the side with the element it is searching for. This reduces the average complexity from O(n\log n) to O(n) , with a worst case of O(n^2) . As with quicksort, quickselect is generally implemented as an in-place algorithm, and beyond selecting the th element, it also partially sorts the data. See selection algorithm for further discussion of the connection with sorting.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.