Answer :
Final answer:
a) 1 6 7 9 34 42 55 89. To simulate merge sort on the given array, we split it into smaller arrays, then further split those until we get single-element arrays. We then merge these arrays back together by comparing elements, resulting in a fully sorted array: [1, 6, 7, 9, 34, 42, 55, 89].
Explanation:
To simulate merge sort on the given array Index [0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7] with Values [34, 6, 89, 55, 7, 42, 9, 1], we will follow the divide and conquer strategy employed by merge sort. Here is the step-by-step simulation:
- Split the array into smaller arrays:
[34, 6, 89, 55] and [7, 42, 9, 1]. - Recursively divide these arrays until you have single-element arrays:
[34, 6], [89, 55], [7, 42], and [9, 1]
which further breaks down to
[34], [6], [89], [55], [7], [42], [9], [1]. - Merge these single-element arrays by comparing elements and combining them back into sorted arrays:
[6, 34], [55, 89], [7, 42], and [1, 9]. - Now merge these sorted arrays:
[6, 34, 55, 89] and [1, 7, 9, 42]. - Finally, merge the last two sorted arrays into one sorted array:
[1, 6, 7, 9, 34, 42, 55, 89].
The correct ordered sequence after applying merge sort to the given array is option (a) 1 6 7 9 34 42 55 89.
