Introduction to Divide and Conquer

Introduction to Divide and Conquer:

Divide and Conquer is an algorithmic paradigm in which the problem is solved using the Divide, Conquer, and Combine strategy....

Application of Divide & Conquer in Binary Search:

Binary Search is a search algorithm that efficiently finds a target value within a sorted array. It repeatedly divides the search space in half until the target is found or the search space is empty....

Application of Divide & Conquer in Merge Sort:

Merge Sort is a divide-and-conquer sorting algorithm that recursively divides an array into two halves, sorts each half, and then merges them to produce a sorted array....

Application of Divide & Conquer in Quick Sort:

QuickSort is a sorting algorithm based on the Divide and Conquer algorithm that picks an element as a pivot and partitions the given array around the picked pivot by placing the pivot in its correct position in the sorted array....

Standard Problems that uses Divide and Conquer Algorithm:

1. Merge Sort for Linked List:...

Advantages of Divide and Conquer Algorithm:

It divides the entire problem into subproblems thus it can be solved parallelly ensuring multiprocessing Efficiently uses cache memory without occupying much space. Reduces time complexity of the problem....

Disadvantages of Divide and Conquer Algorithm:

It may crash the system if the recursion is performed rigorously. The process of dividing the problem into subproblems and then combining the solutions can require additional time and resources. Complexity: Dividing a problem into smaller subproblems can increase the complexity of the overall solution. When working with large data sets, the memory requirements for storing the intermediate results of the subproblems can become a limiting factor....

Previously Asked GATE Questions on Divide and Conquer:

Question 1: Which of the following algorithms is NOT a divide & conquer algorithm by nature?...