Thursday, May 22, 2008

Sort the given values using Quick Sort? 65 70 75 80 85 60 55 50 45

Sorting takes place from the pivot value, which is the first value of the given elements, this is marked bold. The values at the left pointer and right pointer are indicated using L and R respectively.

65 70L 75 80 85 60 55 50 45R

Since pivot is not yet changed the same process is continued after interchanging the values at L and R positions

65 45 75 L 80 85 60 55 50 R 70

65 45 50 80 L 85 60 55 R 75 70

65 45 50 55 85 L 60 R 80 75 70


65 45 50 55 60 R 85 L 80 75 70

When the L and R pointers cross each other the pivot value is interchanged with the value at right pointer. If the pivot is changed it means that the pivot has occupied its original position in the sorted order (shown in bold italics) and hence two different arrays are formed, one from start of the original array to the pivot position-1 and the other from pivot position+1 to end.

60 L 45 50 55 R 65 85 L 80 75 70 R

55 L 45 50 R 60 65 70 R 80 L 75 85

50 L 45 R 55 60 65 70 80 L 75 R 85

In the next pass we get the sorted form of the array.

45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85

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