Merge Sort Algorithm: A Comprehensive Guide for Sorting Large Data Sets

Understand the Basics of Merge Sort with Programming Demonstration | Karthikeyan Nagaraj

Karthikeyan Nagaraj
5 min readFeb 16, 2023

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Introduction:

  • Merge sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that was invented in 1945 by John von Neumann.
  • It is one of the most efficient sorting algorithms, with a time complexity of O(n log n) in the worst case. In this article, we will discuss the concept and implementation of merge sort.

Concept:

  • It is a divide-and-conquer algorithm, which means that it breaks down the problem into smaller sub-problems and then solves them to get the final solution.
  • Merge sort divides an array into two halves, recursively sorts each half, and then merges the sorted halves.
  • The process continues until the entire array is sorted. Merge sort is a stable sorting algorithm, which means that the order of equal elements is preserved.

Merge Sort in Data Structures:

In data structures, merge sort is used in several applications, including:

  1. Sorting Algorithms:
    Merge sort is a popular sorting algorithm used in data structures. It is efficient…

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Karthikeyan Nagaraj

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