An improved algorithm for the traveler’s problem

In a paper in Journal of Algorithms13 (1992), 148-160, Hirschberg and Larmore introduced the traveler’s problem as a subroutine for constructing the B-tree. They gave an O(n5/3 log1/3n) time algorithm for solving the traveler’s problem of size n. In this paper, we improve their time bound to O(n3/2 log n). As a consequence, we build a B-tree in O(n3/2 log2n) time as compared to the O(n5/3 log4/3n) time algorithm of Hirschberg and Larmore. © 1995 Academic Press, Inc.