An algorithm to count the number of repeated patient data entries with B tree

✍ Scribed by Masahiko Okada; Mihoko Okada

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1985
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 255 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(85)90038-2

✦ Synopsis

An algorithm to obtain the number of different values that appear a specified number of times in a given data field of a given data file is presented. Basically, a well-known B-tree structure is employed in this study. Some modifications were made to the basic B-tree algorithm. The first step of the modifications is to allow a data item whose values are not necessary distinct from one record to another to be used as a primary key. When a key value is inserted, the number of previous appearances is counted. At the end of all the insertions, the number of key values which are unique in the tree, the number of key values which appear twice, three times, and so forth are obtained. This algorithm is especially powerful for a large size file in disk storage. o 1985 Academic press, hc.