Analyzing the Merge Sort Algorithm

• In an array of size n, count how many times an array element is visited
• Assume n is a power of 2:    n = 2^m
• Calculate the number of visits to create the two sub-arrays and then merge the two sorted arrays
  • 3 visits to merge each element or 3n visits
  • 2n visits to create the two sub-arrays
  • total of 5n visits