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Find Max of "Concave" List

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg12918] Find Max of "Concave" List
• From: "Chris Farr" <farr at brown.edu>
• Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 03:44:38 -0400
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

I have a one-dimensional list which is concave.  That is, if you did a 
ListPlot on the list you would have a concave curve.

Given the concavity, when finding the max, it is inefficient to use 
Max[] which does a comparison on all elements of the list.

Is there an elegant way to exploit the concavity when performing a 
Max[]?  That is, the algorithm should stop when the next element in the
 list is lower then the previous element.  This would limit the number
of  comparisons.

Thanks,

Chris Farr

• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: Find Max of "Concave" List
    • From: Sean Ross <seanross@worldnet.att.net>