Question

How does Mergesort work?

1) Separates the array into arrays with a length of 1 and then merges them together in sorted order in a recursive method
2) The next element in the "unsorted" list is moved in comparison to other elements in the "sorted" list until all elements are sorted to each other
3) The smallest element in the array is swapped with the element in the 0th index. Then, the element of the smallest part of the rest of the array is swapped with the next element and so on.

Answer 1

Mergesort is a divide and conquer algorithm used for sorting an array of elements. It involves recursively dividing the array into smaller arrays with one element each, then merging the smaller arrays together in sorted order.

Step-by-step explanation:

Mergesort is a divide and conquer algorithm used for sorting an array of elements. The process involves recursively dividing the array into smaller arrays until each array contains only one element. Then, the smaller arrays are merged together in sorted order to produce a sorted array.

Here is a step-by-step explanation of how Mergesort works:

Divide the unsorted array into two halves recursively until each array contains only one element.

Merge the smaller arrays together in sorted order, comparing elements from each array. This involves creating a temporary array and comparing elements from the two smaller arrays, moving the smaller element to the temporary array. Repeat this process until all elements are merged together.

Copy the merged elements from the temporary array back into the original array, resulting in a sorted array.

Mergesort has a time complexity of O(n log n) and is a stable sorting algorithm, meaning it preserves the relative order of elements with equal values. It is widely used due to its efficiency and stability.