DATASTRUCTURE & ALGORITHMS
MERGE SORT
UNIT-3
[Link]
Head & Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science
Sri Sarada Niketan College of Science for
Women,Karur.
Merge Sort
*Merge sort is a famous sorting algorithm.
*It uses a divide and conquer paradigm for sorting.
*It divides the problem into sub problems and solves them
individually.
*It then combines the results of sub problems to get the solution of
the original problem.
How Merge Sort Works?
* Before learning how merge sort works, let us learn about the merge procedure of
merge sort algorithm.
* The merge procedure of merge sort algorithm is used to merge two sorted arrays
into a third array in sorted order.
* Consider we want to merge the following two sorted sub arrays into a third array
in sorted order
The above merge procedure of merge sort algorithm is
explained in the following steps
Step-01:
* Create two variables i and j for left and right sub arrays.
* Create variable k for sorted output array.
Step-02:
* We have i = 0, j = 0, k = 0.
* Since L[0] < R[0], so we perform A[0] = L[0] i.e. we copy the first element from left
sub array to our sorted output array.
* Then, we increment i and k by 1.
Then, we have
Step-03:
* We have i = 1, j = 0, k = 1.
* Since L[1] > R[0], so we perform A[1] = R[0] i.e. we copy the first element from right
sub array to our sorted output array.
* Then, we increment j and k by 1.
Then, we have
Step-04:
* We have i = 1, j = 1, k = 2.
* Since L[1] > R[1], so we perform A[2] = R[1].
* Then, we increment j and k by 1.
Then, we have
Step-05:
*We have i = 1, j = 2, k = 3.
*Since L[1] < R[2], so we perform A[3] = L[1].
*Then, we increment i and k by 1.
Then, we have
Step-06:
*We have i = 2, j = 2, k = 4.
*Since L[2] > R[2], so we perform A[4] = R[2].
*Then, we increment j and k by 1.
Then, we have
Step-07:
* Clearly, all the elements from right sub array have been added to the sorted output
array.
* So, we exit the first while loop with the condition while(i<nL && j<nR) since now
j>nR.
* Then, we add remaining elements from the left sub array to the sorted output array
using next while loop.
Finally, our sorted output array is
Merge Sort Algorithm
* Merge Sort Algorithm works in the following steps-
* It divides the given unsorted array into two halves- left and right sub arrays.
* The sub arrays are divided recursively.
* This division continues until the size of each sub array becomes 1.
* After each sub array contains only a single element, each sub array is sorted
trivially.
* Then, the above discussed merge procedure is called.
* The merge procedure combines these trivially sorted arrays to produce a final
sorted array.
