Median of Two Sorted Arrays of Different Size in C

Median of Two Sorted Arrays of Different Size in C

Here, in this page we will discuss the program to find the Median of two sorted arrays of different size i n C+programming language. We are given with two sorted arrays say a[] and b[] of size n and m respectively. We need to find the median of these two sorted arrays.

Median of Two Sorted Arrays of Different Size in C

Method 1 :

  • Create another array say arr3[] of size n+m.
  • Now, store the elements of arr1[] and arr2[] in arr3[].
  • Sort the arr3[]
  • Now, print the median : if (n+m) is odd then median is arr3[(n+m)/2]
  • Otherwise, median is ((arr3[(n+m)/2])+(arr3[(n+m)/2-1]))/2.

Time and Space Complexities :

  • Time-Complexity : O((n+m)(n+m))
  • Space-Complexity : O(n+m)

Method 1 : Code in C

Run
#include <stdio.h>

int main(){

  int arr1[]={2, 6, 7, 8};
  int n = sizeof(arr1)/sizeof(arr1[0]);
  
  int arr2[]={10, 12, 17, 18, 90, 91};
  int m = sizeof(arr2)/sizeof(arr2[0]);

  int arr3[n+m];

  for(int i=0; i<n; i++)
  arr3[i]=arr1[i];

  int j=n;
  for(int i=0; i<m; i++)
  arr3[j++]=arr2[i];
  
  
  //sort arr3
  for(int i=0; i<(n+m); i++){
      for(int j=i+1; j<(n+m); j++){ if(arr3[i]>arr3[j]){
                int temp = arr3[i];
                arr3[i] = arr3[j];
                arr3[j] = temp;
          }
          
      }
  }
  
  int median;

  if((n+m)%2==0)
  median = (arr3[(n+m)/2] + arr3[(n+m)/2-1])/2;

  else 
  median = arr3[(n+m)/2];

  printf("%d ", median);
}

Output:

11

Method 2 :

  • Create a variable count to have a count of elements in the output array.
  • Now, to merge both arrays, declare two indices i and j initially assigned to 0. Compare the ith index of 1st array and jth index of second, increase the index of the smallest element and increase the count.
  • Now, take two variables say m1 and m2 and store (n+m)/2 and (n+m)/2-1 in these two variables respectively.
  • Check if the count = (m+n) / 2.
  • And if (m+n) is odd return m1,
  • Otherwise, return (m1+m2)/2.

Time and Space Complexities :

  • Time-Complexity : O((n+m))
  • Space-Complexity : O(1)

Method 2 : Code in C

Run
#include <stdio.h>

int main(){

  int arr1[]={2, 6, 7, 8};
  int n = sizeof(arr1)/sizeof(arr1[0]);
  
  int arr2[]={10, 12, 17, 18, 90, 91};
  int m = sizeof(arr2)/sizeof(arr2[0]);

  int i = 0, j=0, count =0, m1=-1, m2=-1; 

  for (; count <= (n + m)/2; count++) 
  { 
      m2=m1; 
      if(i != n && j != m) 
      { 
          m1 = (arr1[i] > arr2[j]) ? arr2[j++] : arr1[i++];
    }
    else if(i < n)
    {
       m1 = arr1[i++];
    }
    else
    {
       m1 = arr2[j++];
    }
  }

  if((n + m) % 2 == 1)
    printf("%d ", m1);

  else
    printf("%d ", (m1+m2)/2);
}

Output:

11

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