Talk:Longest common prefix: Difference between revisions
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== No strings case == |
== No strings case == |
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As I understand it, the example says that given 0 strings, it should return the empty string, i.e. <code>lcp() = ""</code>. Is this necessary? I would argue the answer is undefined in this case, as ''any string'' is vacuously a "common prefix" of 0 strings, and therefore the "longest common prefix" is the longest string, which doesn't exist. --[[User:Spoon!|Spoon!]] ([[User talk:Spoon!|talk]]) 01:32, 21 March 2015 (UTC) |
As I understand it, the example says that given 0 strings, it should return the empty string, i.e. <code>lcp() = ""</code>. Is this necessary? I would argue the answer is undefined in this case, as ''any string'' is vacuously a "common prefix" of 0 strings, and therefore the "longest common prefix" is the longest string, which doesn't exist. Also, if you consider that the longest common prefix of multiple strings can be defined recursively as the longest common prefix of (the first string, the longest common prefix of the rest of the strings), it won't work if the longest common prefix of no strings is the empty string. --[[User:Spoon!|Spoon!]] ([[User talk:Spoon!|talk]]) 01:32, 21 March 2015 (UTC) |
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Revision as of 01:38, 21 March 2015
Please explain the maths equation for an audience of programmers rather than mathematicians, thanks. --Paddy3118 (talk) 15:00, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
No strings case
As I understand it, the example says that given 0 strings, it should return the empty string, i.e. lcp() = "". Is this necessary? I would argue the answer is undefined in this case, as any string is vacuously a "common prefix" of 0 strings, and therefore the "longest common prefix" is the longest string, which doesn't exist. Also, if you consider that the longest common prefix of multiple strings can be defined recursively as the longest common prefix of (the first string, the longest common prefix of the rest of the strings), it won't work if the longest common prefix of no strings is the empty string. --Spoon! (talk) 01:32, 21 March 2015 (UTC)