InterviewQuestionsMergesort

1.Merging with smaller auxiliary array. Suppose that the subarray a[0] to a[n−1] is sorted
and the subarray a[n] to a[2∗n−1] is sorted. How can you merge the two subarrays so that
a[0] to a[2∗n−1] is sorted using an auxiliary array of length n (instead of 2n)?

Hint: copy only the left half into the auxiliary array.

2.Counting inversions. An inversion in an array a[] is a pair of entries a[i] and a[j]
such that i< j but a[i]>a[j]. Given an array, design a linearithmic algorithm to count
the number of inversions.

Hint: count while mergesorting.

3.Shuffling a linked list. Given a singly-linked list containing n items, rearrange
the items uniformly at random. Your algorithm should consume a logarithmic (or constant)
amount of extra memory and run in time proportional to nlogn in the worst case.

Hint: design a linear-time subroutine that can take two uniformly shuffled linked lists of
sizes n1 and n2 and combined them into a uniformly shuffled linked lists of size n1+n2.