Fibonacci's numbers calculator

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Another simple-but-yet-interesting problem that I found challenging solving is the to Write a Fibonacci’s numbers calculator. It’s a REALLY SIMPLE problem, but still can demonstrate how superficial thinking in programming can lead to dramatically bad solutions.

What’s a Fibonacci’s number

A Fibonacci’s number is an integer number generated using the following function:

Assumed that: f(0) = 0 f(1) = 1 for a generic "n" Integer: f(n) = f(n-1) + f(n-2)

For example, the first 20 Fibonacci’s number are: 0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89 144 233 377 610 987 1597 2584 4181 6765

The young-and-entusiast approach

Recursion! We all love the elegance of it. When we manage to write something that uses Recursions, everything seems easier and simpler to our eyes for a while. BUT, in this particular case, using recursion for implementing such simple task is really bad.

Why? Because at every call to this function, it will generate 2n recursive function calls. A bit of a nightmare for the process call stack if the whole purpose of this thing is calculating a “stupid” integer number.

Functions call tree using a recursive algorithm

Plus, given the nature of the function itself, it will recalculate the same f(x) over and over again, because f(x) is going to be a subproblem shared between a certain y and z, where both y > x and z > x.

Result? An awful implementation. With a quick Big-Oh analysis I would say that the Time Complexity of this “monster” will be O(2n). Don’t believe it? Check out the implementation here:

#include <stdio .h>

unsigned long fibonacci_slow(unsigned short i)
{
    if ( i == 0 )
        return (0);
    
    if ( i == 1 )
        return (1);
    
    return ( fibonacci_slow(i-1) + fibonacci_slow(i-2) );
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    unsigned short i, input;
    unsigned long curr = 0, prevprev = 0, prev = 1;
    
    // Check the Input
	if ( argc == 2 ) input = atoi(argv[1]); else return (1);
	
	printf("RESULT: fibonacci(%d) = %lu\n\n", input, fibonacci_slow(input));
	return (0);
}

Running it on my Code 2 Duo laptop with n > 40 takes around 10 seconds. For n = 50 I got bored to wait after 1 minute passed by.

If you check out this book, it is going to tell you that such solution is going to take 13 days to come out with a solution, for an average machine (i.e. a machine where O(1) = 0.001 µs).

BUT, of course, I have an alternative solution. Actually, more then one. And the best runs in O(log(n)) ;)

Dynamically programmed solution

The most important thing to bear in mind with the above solution is:

... it will recalculate the same f(x) over and over again, because f(x) is going to be a subproblem shared between...

To make this thing work, we need to build a solution that doesn’t do the same job more then once. Dynamic Programming is the key!

To be more precise, we need to modify the algorithm so that at every step it doesn’t trow away a previous call to f(n), unless we are sure it’s not useful anymore. In this way problems that share sub-problems (as explained before), will enjoy the pleasure of using the previously calculated results.

Because I assume most of my visitors are developers, I’m going to put here the code: it explains itself better than I can do writing.

#include </stdio><stdio .h>

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    unsigned short i, input;
    unsigned long curr = 0, prevprev = 0, prev = 1;
    
    // Check the Input
	if ( argc == 2 ) input = atoi(argv[1]); else return (1);
	
	if ( input > 0 )
	{
        curr = 1;
        for ( i = 2; i < = input; ++i )
        {
            curr = prevprev + prev;
            #ifdef DEBUG
            printf("%d: %lu\n", i, curr);
            #endif
            prevprev = prev;
            prev = curr;
       }
	}
	
	printf("RESULT: fibonacci(%d) = %lu\n\n", input, curr);
	return (0);
}

Complexity in Time? A very nice O(n). And the space occupied is O(1): just two unsigned long.

Fibonacci and Identity Matrix

Take a look now to this property of Matrices:

    [ 1 1 ] n      [ F(n+1) F(n)   ]
    [ 1 0 ]    =   [ F(n)   F(n-1) ]

Given the formula for multiplying 2x2 Matrices

    [ a b ] [ d e ]   [ ad + be  bd + ce ]
    [ b c ] [ e f ] = [ bd + ce  be + cf ]

You can then prove the result above by induction: Let

   A = [ 1 1 ]   (identity matrix)
       [ 1 0 ]

assume by induction that the equation above is is true for some n, multiply both sides by another power of A using the formula for matrix multiplication, and verify that the terms you get are the same as the formula defining the Fibonacci numbers.

So, what you can calculate a Fibonacci’s number in this way:

  1. Initialize M as the Identity Matrix
  2. Multiply M by itself (n-1)-times
  3. Return M[0][0]

Calculate an in O(log(n))

Why this now? Bear with me just a little more. Yes, it’s possible to do such a thing. And it made me feel stupid when I realized how simple it was.

Isn’t an = afloor(n/2) * aceil(n/2)? So, you can calculate it with something like:

int exp(int a, int n)
{
   int res = a;
   if ( n > 1 )
   {
      res = exp(a, n/2);
      res *= res;
      if ( n % 2 != 0 ) // In case 'n' was odd
      {
         res *= a;
      }
   }
   return res;
}

I’m leaving to you to get why the complexity of this is just O(log(n)). Actually not, I’m giving you a quick explanation: this method is going do do as much multiplications (O(1) operations) as the number of time you need to divide the input n by 2 before it becomes 1. Confused? Ok, try the other way round: it requires as much multiplication, as you need to multiply 1 by 2, so that the result is n (of course, more or less the 1 where n is odd).

Put together Fibonacci, Matrices and our latest “breakthrough”

If you arrived this far, you probably already realized where I’m heading: Using the Identity Matrix property explained before with this algorithm for calculating exponentials.

After all, multiplying a Matrix M by itself n-1 times is like calculating </code>Mn-1. And here is the code that implements all this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

unsigned long* matrix_2x2_multiply(unsigned long* A, unsigned long* B)
{
    unsigned long* result = (unsigned long*)malloc(4 * sizeof(unsigned long));
    result[0] = A[0] * B[0] + A[1] * B[2];
    result[1] = A[2] * B[0] + A[3] * B[2];
    result[2] = A[0] * B[1] + A[1] * B[3];
    result[3] = A[2] * B[1] + A[3] * B[3];
    return result;
}

unsigned long* matrix_2x2_multiply_identity(unsigned long* A)
{
    unsigned long identity[] = {1, 1, 1, 0};
    return matrix_2x2_multiply(A, identity);
}

unsigned long* matrix_2x2_power(unsigned long* input_matrix, unsigned short n)
{
    #ifdef DEBUG
    printf("INPUT MATRIX(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
        n, input_matrix[0], input_matrix[1], input_matrix[2], input_matrix[3]);
    #endif

    unsigned long* result = input_matrix;
    unsigned long* temp = NULL;
    
    if (n > 1)
    {
        if ( n/2 > 1 ) // Avoid useless recursion
        {
            result = matrix_2x2_power(input_matrix, n/2);
            temp = result;
            
            #ifdef DEBUG
            printf("AFTER RECURSION(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
                n, result[0], result[1], result[2], result[3]);
            #endif
        }
        result = matrix_2x2_multiply(result, result);
        // Free a 2x2 Array that is not needed anymore
        if ( temp != NULL )
        {
            free(temp);
            temp = NULL;
        }
        
        #ifdef DEBUG
        printf("AFTER MULTIPLICATION(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
            n, result[0], result[1], result[2], result[3]);
        #endif
        
        if ( (n % 2) != 0 )
        {
            result = matrix_2x2_multiply_identity(result);
            
            #ifdef DEBUG
            printf("AFTER IDENTITY MULTIP.(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
                n, result[0], result[1], result[2], result[3]);
            #endif
        }
    }
        
    #ifdef DEBUG
    printf("resultULT(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
        n, result[0], result[1], result[2], result[3]);
    #endif

    return result;
}

unsigned long fibonacci_fast(unsigned short n)
{
    unsigned long result;
    unsigned long* matrix_2x2;
    unsigned long* identity_matrix_2x2;
    
    if ( n > 0)
    {
        // Allocating an initial Array 2x2 of unsigned long
        identity_matrix_2x2 = (unsigned long*)malloc(4 * sizeof(unsigned long));
        // Initialize the first matrix to the "identity matrix"
        identity_matrix_2x2[0] = 1;
        identity_matrix_2x2[1] = 1;
        identity_matrix_2x2[2] = 1;
        identity_matrix_2x2[3] = 0;
        
        matrix_2x2 = matrix_2x2_power(identity_matrix_2x2, n-1);
        result = matrix_2x2[0];
        
        // Freeing memory
        free(identity_matrix_2x2);
        // For "n" < 3 there is the risk that the call "matrix_2x2_power"
        //  returns the same matrix as result: this happens when no
        //  alteration is done on the input matrix.
        if ( identity_matrix_2x2 != matrix_2x2 )
            free(matrix_2x2);
            
        return result;
    }
    else
        return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    unsigned short input;
    // Check the Input
	if ( argc == 2 ) input = atoi(argv[1]); else return (1);

	printf("resultULT: fibonacci-v2(%d) = %lu\n\n", input, fibonacci_fast(input));
	return (0);
}

One more thing

Yes, the allocation of all those matrices during the calculation is heavy. Even if they are just 2x2, it is still a lot of system calls to get and release memory from and to the Operating System (the malloc and the free).

We could do the job with just 2 matrices, 1 holding the current Matrix, and 1 holding the next multiplication. A circular array of 2 matrices 2x2, swapping their role at every step? HERE WE GO:

#include <stdio.h>

unsigned short matrix_2x2_square(unsigned long matrix_array[2][4],
    unsigned short curr_matrix_index)
{
    static int new_matrix_index; new_matrix_index = (curr_matrix_index + 1) % 2;
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][0] = 
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0]
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2];
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][1] = 
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0]
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2];
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][2] = 
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1]
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3];
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][3] = 
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1]
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3] * matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3];

    return new_matrix_index;
}

unsigned short matrix_2x2_multiply_identity(unsigned long matrix_array[2][4],
    unsigned short curr_matrix_index)
{
    static int new_matrix_index;

    // Swap the role of the 2 Matrices
    new_matrix_index = (curr_matrix_index + 1) % 2;
    
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][0] = matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0] * 1
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1] * 1;
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][1] = matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2] * 1
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3] * 1;
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][2] = matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0] * 1
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1] * 0;
    matrix_array[new_matrix_index][3] = matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2] * 1
        + matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3] * 0;

    return new_matrix_index;
}

unsigned short matrix_2x2_power(unsigned long matrix_array[2][4],
    unsigned short curr_matrix_index, unsigned short n)
{
    #ifdef DEBUG
    printf("INPUT MATRIX(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
        n, matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1],
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3]);
    #endif
    
    if (n > 1)
    {
        if ( n/2 > 1 ) // Avoid useless recursion
        {
            // Recursive call for N/2
            curr_matrix_index = matrix_2x2_power(matrix_array, curr_matrix_index, n/2);
            
            #ifdef DEBUG
            printf("AFTER RECURSION(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
                n, matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1],
                matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3]);
            #endif
        }
        // Matrix = Matrix * Matrix
        curr_matrix_index = matrix_2x2_square(matrix_array, curr_matrix_index);
        
        #ifdef DEBUG
        printf("AFTER MULTIPLICATION(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
            n, matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1],
            matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3]);
        #endif
        
        // If N is odd
        if ( (n % 2) != 0 )
        {
            // Matrix = Matrix * IdentityMatrix ("{1, 1, 1, 0}")
            curr_matrix_index = matrix_2x2_multiply_identity(matrix_array, curr_matrix_index);
            
            #ifdef DEBUG
            printf("AFTER IDENTITY MULTIP.(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
                n, matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1],
                matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3]);
            #endif
        }
    }
        
    #ifdef DEBUG
    printf("RESULT(%d)\n[%lu\t%lu]\n[%lu\t%lu]\n\n",
        n, matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][0], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][1],
        matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][2], matrix_array[curr_matrix_index][3]);
    #endif

    // Return the index of the matrix carrying the current result
    return curr_matrix_index;
}

unsigned long fibonacci_fast(unsigned short n)
{
    unsigned long   result;
    unsigned short  matrix_2x2_cur = 0;
    unsigned long   matrix_2x2[2][4] = { {1, 1, 1, 0}, {0, 0, 0, 0} };
    
    if ( n > 0)
    {        
        matrix_2x2_cur = matrix_2x2_power(matrix_2x2, matrix_2x2_cur, n-1);
        result = matrix_2x2[matrix_2x2_cur][0];
           
        return result;
    }
    else
        return 0;
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    unsigned short input;
    // Check the Input
	if ( argc == 2 ) input = atoi(argv[1]); else return (1);

	printf("RESULT: fibonacci-v2(%d) = %lu\n\n", input, fibonacci_fast(input));
	return (0);
}

Conclusion

If you arrived to read this far, I think you don’t need conclusions. You already understood all what I meant to say here.

What I invite you to do is to compile and run those solutions, testing their performances with growing inputs. On my system (Mac OS X Snow Leopard), using unsigned long to carry the values I can calculate up to f(93): after that it overflows and the generated numbers can’t be stored with a base type.

   # ./fibonacci-v3 92
   RESULT: fibonacci-v2(92) = 7540113804746346429
   # ./fibonacci-v3 93
   RESULT: fibonacci-v2(93) = 12200160415121876738
   # ./fibonacci-v3 94
   RESULT: fibonacci-v2(94) = 1293530146158671551