What is the space complexity of Merge Sort?

Practice Questions

Q1
What is the space complexity of Merge Sort?
  1. O(1)
  2. O(n)
  3. O(log n)
  4. O(n log n)

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

What is the space complexity of Merge Sort?
  • Step 1: Understand what space complexity means. Space complexity refers to the amount of memory an algorithm uses in relation to the input size.
  • Step 2: Know that Merge Sort is a sorting algorithm that divides the array into smaller parts, sorts them, and then merges them back together.
  • Step 3: Realize that during the merging process, Merge Sort creates temporary arrays to hold the elements being merged.
  • Step 4: Recognize that the size of these temporary arrays is proportional to the size of the input array (n).
  • Step 5: Conclude that since the algorithm requires additional space for these temporary arrays, the space complexity of Merge Sort is O(n).
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