Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ii / Paper 4 / 30J / b / Solution

With $X_1<\cdots <X_n$, it suffices to put the threshold between $X_m$ and $X_{m+1}$ for $m=1,\dots ,n-1$. Form the prefix sumsThey take $O(n)$ operations to compute. The minimized squared errors for the two children areandEach candidate value $L_m+R_m$ therefore takes constant time once the prefix sums are available. Scanning all $n-1$ candidates takes $O(n)$ operations in the sense of Big O notation, and retaining the minimizing $m$ gives the optimal split.