Graph Theory37 sections · 1633 units
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Why Depth is O(log n)

(Each level halves the size)

When you remove a centroid, each component has at most n/2n/2 nodes. At the next level, components have at most n/4n/4 nodes. Then n/8n/8, and so on. Each level halves the maximum component size. After kk levels, components have at most n/2kn / 2^k nodes.

When this reaches 11, you are done. Solving n/2k=1n / 2^k = 1 gives k=log2nk = \log_2 n, so the depth is logarithmic. So the decomposition tree has O(logn)O(\log n) depth, which bounds the recursion depth. This is why centroid decomposition is efficient.

Space complexity is O(n)O(n) for the data structures used.