C++ Program to Find Median of Two Arrays of Different Sizes

This is a C++ Program find the median of elements where elements are stored in 2 different arrays.

Problem Description

1. We need to find combined median of two different data set.
2. It includes sorting of both arrays using quick sort and then printing the median by simultaneously traversing both arrays.
3. The time complexity will be O(n*log(n)+m*log(m)+m+n).

Problem Solution

1. Take input of both the data set of length m and n respectively.
2. Sort the data sets using the quick-sort algorithm.
3. Calculate the median, considering both arrays as a single array.
4. Exit.

Program/Source Code

C++ program to find median of elements where elements are stored in 2 different arrays.
This program is successfully run on Dev-C++ using TDM-GCC 4.9.2 MinGW compiler on a Windows system.

#include<iostream>
 
using namespace std;
 
// Swapping two values.
void swap(int *a, int *b)
{
	int temp; 
	temp = *a;
	*a = *b;
	*b = temp;
}
 
// Partitioning the array on the basis of values at high as pivot value.
int Partition(int a[], int low, int high)
{
	int pivot, index, i;
	index = low;
	pivot = high;
 
	// Getting index of pivot.
	for(i=low; i < high; i++)
	{
		if(a[i] < a[pivot])
		{
			swap(&a[i], &a[index]);
			index++;
		}
	}
	// Swapping value at high and at the index obtained.
	swap(&a[pivot], &a[index]);
 
	return index;
}
 
// Implementing QuickSort algorithm.
int QuickSort(int a[], int low, int high)
{
	int pindex;
	if(low < high)
	{
		// Partitioning array using randomized pivot.
		pindex = Partition(a, low, high);
		// Recursively implementing QuickSort.
		QuickSort(a, low, pindex-1);
		QuickSort(a, pindex+1, high);
	}
	return 0;
}
 
int main()
{
	int n, m, bi, ai, i, k;
	double median;
	cout<<"Enter the number of element in the first data set: ";
	cin>>n;
 
	int a[n];
	// Take input of first sequence.
	for(i = 0; i < n; i++)
	{
		cout<<"Enter "<<i+1<<"th element: ";
		cin>>a[i];
	}
 
	cout<<"\nEnter the number of element in the second data set: ";
	cin>>m;
 
	int b[m];
	// Take input of second sequence.
	for(i = 0; i < m; i++)
	{
		cout<<"Enter "<<i+1<<"th element: ";
		cin>>b[i];
	}
 
	// Sort the data of both arrays.
	QuickSort(a, 0, n-1);
	QuickSort(b, 0, m-1);
 
	//Print the result.
	cout<<"\tThe Median from these data set is: ";
	ai = 0;
	bi = 0;
	// If the m+n is odd then one median will be there otherwise average of two will be taken as median.
	if((m+n)%2 == 1)
	{
		// K is the number of element present upto the median from the beginning of the data array.
		k =(n+m)/2+1;
		while(k > 0)
		{
			// Compare current element of array 'a' and 'b' and skip next the smaller one.
			if(a[ai] <= b[bi] && ai < n)
			{
				k--;
				// Print if we have skipped k element.
				if(k == 0)
					cout<<a[ai];
				ai++;
			}
			else if(a[ai] > b[bi] && bi < m)
			{
				k--;
				// Print if we have skipped k element.
				if(k == 0)
					cout<<b[bi];
				bi++;
			}
		}
	}
	else
	{	
		k = (n+m)/2+1;
		while(k > 0)
		{
			// Compare current element of array 'a' and 'b' and skip next the smaller one.
			if(a[ai] <= b[bi] && ai < n)
			{
				k--;
				// Add the last two numbers so as we can calculate average.
				if(k <= 1)
					median += a[ai];
				ai++;
			}
			else if(a[ai] > b[bi] && bi < m)
			{
				k--;
				// Add the last two numbers so as we can calculate average.
				if(k <= 1)
					median += b[bi];
				bi++;
			}
		}
		// Take average.
		cout<<median/2;
	}
}
Program Explanation

1. Take input of the first data set in the array ‘a’ of length ‘n’ and the second data set as ‘b’ of length ‘m’.
2. Call QuickSort() function to sort both the data set.
3. Check if m+n is odd, then assign k as ‘(m+n)/2 + 1’ and skip first m+n smallest element from both arrays to reach the combined median.
4. Otherwise, m+n is even, then assign k as ‘(m+n)/2 + 1’ and skip first m+n-1 smallest element from both arrays.
5. Take the average of next two smallest elements as the combined average.
6. Print the median.
7. Exit.

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Runtime Test Cases
Case 1:
Enter the number of element in the first data set: 10
Enter 1th element: 16
Enter 2th element: 19
Enter 3th element: 20
Enter 4th element: 17
Enter 5th element: 18
Enter 6th element: 9
Enter 7th element: 6
Enter 8th element: 8
Enter 9th element: 7
Enter 10th element: 10
 
Enter the number of element in the second data set: 10
Enter 1th element: 0
Enter 2th element: 2
Enter 3th element: 5
Enter 4th element: 4
Enter 5th element: 3
Enter 6th element: 15
Enter 7th element: 11
Enter 8th element: 13
Enter 9th element: 14
Enter 10th element: 12
        The Median from these data set is: 10.5

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Manish Bhojasia - Founder & CTO at Sanfoundry
Manish Bhojasia, a technology veteran with 20+ years @ Cisco & Wipro, is Founder and CTO at Sanfoundry. He lives in Bangalore, and focuses on development of Linux Kernel, SAN Technologies, Advanced C, Data Structures & Alogrithms. Stay connected with him at LinkedIn.

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