Median of 2 Sorted Arrays of Equal Size
Understanding the Problem
The goal is to find the median of two sorted arrays of equal size.
Method 1: Simple Merge
This method merges the two arrays and finds the median.
public class MedianOfSortedArrays { public static double findMedianSortedArrays(int[] arr1, int[] arr2) { int n = arr1.length; int[] merged = new int[2 * n]; int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0; while (i < n && j < n) { if (arr1[i] < arr2[j]) { merged[k++] = arr1[i++]; } else { merged[k++] = arr2[j++]; } } while (i < n) merged[k++] = arr1[i++]; while (j < n) merged[k++] = arr2[j++]; return (merged[n - 1] + merged[n]) / 2.0; } public static void main(String[] args) { int[] arr1 = {1, 3}; int[] arr2 = {2, 4}; System.out.println("Median: " + findMedianSortedArrays(arr1, arr2)); } }
Output:
Median: 2.5
Method 2: Binary Search
This method uses binary search to find the median efficiently.
public class MedianOfSortedArrays { public static double findMedianSortedArrays(int[] arr1, int[] arr2) { int n = arr1.length; int low = 0, high = n; while (low <= high) { int partition1 = (low + high) / 2; int partition2 = n - partition1; int maxLeft1 = (partition1 == 0) ? Integer.MIN_VALUE : arr1[partition1 - 1]; int minRight1 = (partition1 == n) ? Integer.MAX_VALUE : arr1[partition1]; int maxLeft2 = (partition2 == 0) ? Integer.MIN_VALUE : arr2[partition2 - 1]; int minRight2 = (partition2 == n) ? Integer.MAX_VALUE : arr2[partition2]; if (maxLeft1 <= minRight2 && maxLeft2 <= minRight1) { return (Math.max(maxLeft1, maxLeft2) + Math.min(minRight1, minRight2)) / 2.0; } else if (maxLeft1 > minRight2) { high = partition1 - 1; } else { low = partition1 + 1; } } throw new IllegalArgumentException("Input arrays are not sorted."); } public static void main(String[] args) { int[] arr1 = {1, 3}; int[] arr2 = {2, 4}; System.out.println("Median: " + findMedianSortedArrays(arr1, arr2)); } }
Output:
Median: 2.5
Method 3: Using a Combined Array
This method combines the arrays and finds the median directly.
import java.util.Arrays; public class MedianOfSortedArrays { public static double findMedianSortedArrays(int[] arr1, int[] arr2) { int n = arr1.length; int[] combined = new int[2 * n]; System.arraycopy(arr1, 0, combined, 0, n); System.arraycopy(arr2, 0, combined, n, n); Arrays.sort(combined); return (combined[n - 1] + combined[n]) / 2.0; } public static void main(String[] args) { int[] arr1 = {1, 3}; int[] arr2 = {2, 4}; System.out.println("Median: " + findMedianSortedArrays(arr1, arr2)); } }
Output:
Median: 2.5