First things first, Merge Sort follows a divide-and-conquer strategy. It splits the problem into smaller subproblems, conquers them, and then combines the results. This algorithm takes an array of elements and repeatedly divides it into halves until we end up with single elements. It then merges these elements back together, sorting them along the way. It's like a sorting ninja, meticulously breaking down and reassembling the array.
Imagine you have an array of numbers, and you want to sort them using Merge Sort. Here's how it works:
Divide and conquer: The array is repeatedly divided into halves until we have individual elements. It's like taking a massive pizza and slicing it into smaller and smaller slices until you have bite-sized pieces.
Sorting the pieces: Once we have the individual elements, the algorithm starts merging them back together, but in a sorted order. It compares the elements in pairs and arranges them accordingly. This step is where the magic happens!
Merging it all: The algorithm continues merging the sorted pairs of elements to create sorted subarrays. It's like taking those delicious slices of pizza and combining them back together to form an even more scrumptious whole pizza.
