What is the time complexity of merging two sorted arrays?
Practice Questions
Q1
What is the time complexity of merging two sorted arrays?
O(n)
O(n log n)
O(log n)
O(n^2)
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
What is the time complexity of merging two sorted arrays?
Step 1: Understand that we have two sorted arrays, let's call them Array A and Array B.
Step 2: Count the total number of elements in both arrays. If Array A has 'm' elements and Array B has 'n' elements, the total is m + n.
Step 3: To merge the two arrays, we will compare the smallest elements of both arrays and add the smaller one to a new array.
Step 4: Repeat the comparison and addition process until all elements from both arrays are added to the new array.
Step 5: Since we go through each element of both arrays exactly once, the time taken is proportional to the total number of elements, which is O(m + n).
Step 6: In big O notation, we simplify this to O(n) when n represents the total number of elements in both arrays.
