Divide-and-conquer algorithm: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Algorithms which recursively solve subproblems}}

In [[computer science]], '''divide and conquer''' is an [[algorithm design paradigm]]. A divide-and-conquer [[algorithm]] [[Recursion (computer science)|recursively]] "breaks down" a problem into two or more sub-problems of the "same or related type", until these become "simple" enough to be solved "directly". The solutions to the sub-problems are then combined to give a solution to the original problem.

The divide-and-conquer technique is the basis of efficient algorithms for many problems, such as [[sorting algorithm|sorting]] (e.g., [[quicksort]], [[merge sort]]), [[multiplication algorithm|multiplying large numbers]] (e.g., the [[Karatsuba algorithm]]), finding the [[Closest pair of points problem|closest pair of points]], [[syntactic analysis]] (e.g., [[top-down parser]]s), and computing the [[discrete Fourier transform]] ([[fast Fourier transform|FFT]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blahut |first1=Richard |title=Fast Algorithms for Signal Processing |date=14 May 2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-511-77637-3 |pages=139–143}}</ref>