Question: Find the median of 2 sorted arrays

Solution: This method works by first getting medians of the two sorted arrays and then comparing them.

Let ar1 and ar2 be the input arrays.

Algorithm:

1) Calculate the medians m1 and m2 of the input arrays ar1[]
and ar2[] respectively.
2) If m1 and m2 both are equal then we are done.
return m1 (or m2)
3) If m1 is greater than m2, then median is present in one
of the below two subarrays.
a) From first element of ar1 to m1 (ar1[0...|_n/2_|])
b) From m2 to last element of ar2 (ar2[|_n/2_|...n-1])
4) If m2 is greater than m1, then median is present in one
of the below two subarrays.
a) From m1 to last element of ar1 (ar1[|_n/2_|...n-1])
b) From first element of ar2 to m2 (ar2[0...|_n/2_|])
4) Repeat the above process until size of both the subarrays
becomes 2.
5) If size of the two arrays is 2 then use below formula to get
the median.
Median = (max(ar1[0], ar2[0]) + min(ar1[1], ar2[1]))/2

Example:

ar1[] = {1, 12, 15, 26, 38}
ar2[] = {2, 13, 17, 30, 45}

For above two arrays m1 = 15 and m2 = 17

For the above ar1[] and ar2[], m1 is smaller than m2. So median is present in one of the following two subarrays.

[15, 26, 38] and [2, 13, 17]

Let us repeat the process for above two subarrays:

m1 = 26 m2 = 13.

m1 is greater than m2. So the subarrays become

[15, 26] and [13, 17]
Now size is 2, so median = (max(ar1[0], ar2[0]) + min(ar1[1], ar2[1]))/2
= (max(15, 13) + min(26, 17))/2
= (15 + 17)/2
= 16
#include

int max(int, int); /* to get maximum of two integers */
int min(int, int); /* to get minimum of two integeres */
int median(int [], int); /* to get median of a single array */

/* This function returns median of ar1[] and ar2[].
Assumptions in this function:
Both ar1[] and ar2[] are sorted arrays
Both have n elements */
int getMedian(int ar1[], int ar2[], int n)
{
int m1; /* For median of ar1 */
int m2; /* For median of ar2 */

/* return -1 for invalid input */
if(n <= 0)
return -1;

if(n == 1)
return (ar1[0] + ar2[0])/2;

if (n == 2)
return (max(ar1[0], ar2[0]) + min(ar1[1], ar2[1])) / 2;

m1 = median(ar1, n); /* get the median of the first array */
m2 = median(ar2, n); /* get the median of the second array */

/* If medians are equal then return either m1 or m2 */
if(m1 == m2)
return m1;

/* if m1 < m2 then median must exist in ar1[m1....] and ar2[....m2] */
if (m1 < m2)
return getMedian(ar1 + n/2, ar2, n - n/2);

/* if m1 > m2 then median must exist in ar1[....m1] and ar2[m2...] */
return getMedian(ar2 + n/2, ar1, n - n/2);
}

/* Driver program to test above function */
int main()
{
int ar1[] = {1, 12, 15, 26, 38};
int ar2[] = {2, 13, 17, 30, 45};
printf("%d", getMedian(ar1, ar2, 5)) ;

getchar();
return 0;
}

/* Utility functions */
int max(int x, int y)
{
return x > y? x : y;
}

int min(int x, int y)
{
return x > y? y : x;
}

/* Function to get median of a single array */
int median(int arr[], int n)
{
if(n%2 == 0)
return (arr[n/2] + arr[n/2-1])/2;
else
return arr[n/2];
}