Final answer:
The correct steps for Bucket Sort are distribution of elements into buckets, sorting each bucket individually, and finally outputting the elements in order. The whole process is encapsulated in option a).
Step-by-step explanation:
The steps in Bucket Sort are accurately described by option a):
Distribute the numbers into buckets (O(n)),
This step involves dividing the array into a finite number of buckets and then distributing the elements of the array into these buckets based on a certain rule or function, such as the range of values they hold.
Sort the elements in each bucket (sum of the amount of time it took to sort each bucket),
After distributing the elements into buckets, each bucket is sorted individually. This can be done using a different sorting algorithm, such as insertion sort.
Output the elements bucket by bucket (O(n)).
The final step is to concatenate the elements from each bucket in order, which results in a sorted array.
The complexity of the sorting within each bucket depends on the sorting algorithm used, while the distributing and concatenating steps are linear in terms of the number of elements in the array being sorted.