Encoding range minima and range top-2 queries

Abstract

We consider the problem of encoding range minimum queries (RMQs): given an array A [1.. n ] of distinct totally ordered values, to pre-process A and create a data structure that can answer the query RMQ( i , j ), which returns the index containing the smallest element in A [ i .. j ], without access to the array A at query time. We give a data structure whose space usage is 2 n + o ( n ) bits, which is asymptotically optimal for worst-case data, and answers RMQs in O (1) worst-case time. This matches the previous result of Fischer and Heun, but is obtained in a more natural way. Furthermore, our result can encode the RMQs of a random array A in 1.919 n + o ( n ) bits in expectation, which is not known to hold for Fischer and Heun’s result. We then generalize our result to the encoding range top-2 query (RT2Q) problem, which is like the encoding RMQ problem except that the query RT2Q( i , j ) returns the indices of both the smallest and second smallest elements of A [ i .. j ]. We introduce a data structure using 3.272 n + o ( n ) bits that answers RT2Qs in constant time, and also give lower bounds on the effective entropy of the RT2Q problem.