
Hi Folks, I created Powerpoint slides to describe the algorithm for the "surpasser problem". Here is a motivation for the surpasser problem: Stock Market: Each day I record the closing value of the DOW. Occasionally, I pick a date and ask, "How many days after this date has the stock market closed at a higher value?" A more challenging question is, "Which day has the most number of following days where the stock market closed at a higher value?" People's Height: Line up a bunch of people. Pick one person and ask, "How many of the following people are taller than this person?" A more challenging question is, "Which person has the most number of following people that are taller?" Word Analysis: Take a letter in a word and ask, "How many of the following letters are bigger (occurs later in the alphabet) than this letter?" A more challenging question is, "Which letter has the most number of following letters that are bigger?" Thus we see a recurring problem: find the number of surpassers; or, find the maximum surpasser count. Recurring problems are good subjects for elegant algorithms. More ... http://www.xfront.com/Pearls-of-Functional-Algorithm-Design/Chapter2/surpass... /Roger