A unifying framework for the analysis of a class of euclidean algorithms

Abstract

We develop a general framework for the analysis of algorithms of a broad Euclidean type. The average-case complexity of an algorithm is seen to be related to the analytic behaviour in the complex plane of the set of elementary transformations determined by the algorithms. The methods rely on properties of transfer operators suitably adapted from dynamical systems theory. As a consequence, we obtain precise average-case analyses of four algorithms for evaluating the Jacobi symbol of computational number theory fame, thereby solving conjectures of Bach and Shallit. These methods provide a unifying framework for the analysis of an entire class of gcd-like algorithms together with new results regarding the probable behaviour of their cost functions. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000.