On parallel searching (extended abstract)

Abstract

We investigate the complexity of seaching by comparisons a table of n elements on a synchronous, shared memory parallel computer with p processors. We show that O(Ign) steps are required if concurrent access to the same memory celt Ks not allowed, whereas only O(Ign/Igp) steps are required if simultaneous reads are allowed. We next show that it is possible to search in O(Ig(n)/p) steps if more general operations are used.