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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Smart, Bridget, Ward, Max, Roughan, Matthew
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.13330
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author Smart, Bridget
Ward, Max
Roughan, Matthew
author_facet Smart, Bridget
Ward, Max
Roughan, Matthew
contents Non-parametric entropy estimation on sequential data is a fundamental tool in signal processing, capturing information flow within or between processes to measure predictability, redundancy, or similarity. Methods based on longest common substrings (LCS) provide a non-parametric estimate of typical set size but are often inefficient, limiting use on real-world data. We introduce LCSFinder, a new algorithm that improves the worst-case performance of LCS calculations from cubic to log-linear time. Although built on standard algorithmic constructs - including sorted suffix arrays and persistent binary search trees - the details require care to provide the matches required for entropy estimation on dynamically growing sequences. We demonstrate that LCSFinder achieves dramatic speedups over existing implementations on real and simulated data, enabling entropy estimation at scales previously infeasible in practical signal processing.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_13330
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A faster algorithm for efficient longest common substring calculation for non-parametric entropy estimation in sequential data
Smart, Bridget
Ward, Max
Roughan, Matthew
Data Structures and Algorithms
Information Theory
Non-parametric entropy estimation on sequential data is a fundamental tool in signal processing, capturing information flow within or between processes to measure predictability, redundancy, or similarity. Methods based on longest common substrings (LCS) provide a non-parametric estimate of typical set size but are often inefficient, limiting use on real-world data. We introduce LCSFinder, a new algorithm that improves the worst-case performance of LCS calculations from cubic to log-linear time. Although built on standard algorithmic constructs - including sorted suffix arrays and persistent binary search trees - the details require care to provide the matches required for entropy estimation on dynamically growing sequences. We demonstrate that LCSFinder achieves dramatic speedups over existing implementations on real and simulated data, enabling entropy estimation at scales previously infeasible in practical signal processing.
title A faster algorithm for efficient longest common substring calculation for non-parametric entropy estimation in sequential data
topic Data Structures and Algorithms
Information Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.13330