Hands-On Data Structures and Algorithms with Python - Second Edition

Divide and conquer

This approach to problem-solving is just as its name suggests. To solve (conquer) a certain problem, the algorithm divides it into subproblems that can easily be solved. Further, the solutions to each of these subproblems are combined in such a way that the final solution is the solution of the original problem.

The way in which the problems are broken down into smaller subproblems is mostly done by recursion. We will examine this technique in detail in the subsequent subsections. Some algorithms that use this technique include merge sort, quick sort, and binary search.