LIPIcs.ESA.2022.34.pdf
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Given a data stream 𝒟 = ⟨ a₁, a₂, …, a_m ⟩ of m elements where each a_i ∈ [n], the Distinct Elements problem is to estimate the number of distinct elements in 𝒟. Distinct Elements has been a subject of theoretical and empirical investigations over the past four decades resulting in space optimal algorithms for it. All the current state-of-the-art algorithms are, however, beyond the reach of an undergraduate textbook owing to their reliance on the usage of notions such as pairwise independence and universal hash functions. We present a simple, intuitive, sampling-based space-efficient algorithm whose description and the proof are accessible to undergraduates with the knowledge of basic probability theory.
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