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Combinatorial analysis of quicksort algorithm. (English) Zbl 0685.68058
The average behaviour and higher moments of the distribution of the running times of the QUICKSORT algorithm are studied by applying the symbolic operator method. The exponential generating function of cost for the QUICKSORT algorithm is given. As practical illustration, for small lists (size $$\leq M)$$ INSERTSORT was used within the QUICKSORT algorithm, and for sorting of lists of size $$<5,000$$ the optimal value of M is between 10 to 15.
Reviewer: R.Klette

##### MSC:
 68P10 Searching and sorting 05A15 Exact enumeration problems, generating functions 68Q25 Analysis of algorithms and problem complexity
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##### References:
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