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Merge Sort

Merge Sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that sorts an array by recursively breaking it down into smaller sub-arrays and then merging them back together in sorted order. It has a time complexity of O(n log n) in all cases and a space complexity of O(n). While it is stable and efficient for large datasets, it has high space complexity and is slower for small datasets compared to other sorting algorithms.

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13 views3 pages

Merge Sort

Merge Sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that sorts an array by recursively breaking it down into smaller sub-arrays and then merging them back together in sorted order. It has a time complexity of O(n log n) in all cases and a space complexity of O(n). While it is stable and efficient for large datasets, it has high space complexity and is slower for small datasets compared to other sorting algorithms.

Uploaded by

tkarthika139
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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MERGE SORT

The Merge Sort algorithm is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that sorts an


array by first breaking it down into smaller arrays, and then building the array
back together the correct way so that it is sorted.

Principle:

 Divide: The algorithm starts with breaking up the array into smaller and
smaller pieces until one such sub-array only consists of one element.

 Conquer: The algorithm merges the small pieces of the array back together
by putting the lowest values first, resulting in a sorted array.

The breaking down and building up of the array to sort the array is done
recursively.

Working Procedure:

1. Divide the unsorted array into two sub-arrays, half the size of the original.
2. Continue to divide the sub-arrays as long as the current piece of the array
has more than one element.
3. Merge two sub-arrays together by always putting the lowest value first.
4. Keep merging until there are no sub-arrays left.
Example:

Merge Sort works from a different perspective. The array is split into smaller and
smaller pieces until it is merged back together. And as the merging happens,
values from each sub-array are compared so that the lowest value comes first.

Time Complexity

 Best Case: O(n log n) (when the list is already sorted)


 Average Case: O(n log n)
 Worst Case: O(n log n)
 Space Complexity: O(n) (due to temporary arrays during merging)

Advantages:

 Stable sort (preserves the order of equal elements)


 Predictable time complexity
 Efficient for large datasets

Disadvantages:

 High space complexity


 Slower for small datasets compared to algorithms like Quick Sort or
Insertion Sort

Merge Sort Algorithm:

function mergeSort(arr)

if length of arr ≤ 1

return arr

mid = length of arr / 2

left = mergeSort(arr[0...mid-1])

right = mergeSort(arr[mid...end])

return merge(left, right)

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