Where to find a ranking dichotomy algorithm? So far I can only find an algorithm that is used to find a specific value in an already ordered table. I know of the bubble wrap, but not the dichotomy one.n Or this failing recommend me a general/type algorithm website.
Thank you very much indeed.

yes, this is why i’m on this forum. (reaches for pipe and slippers)

Well not much different than a recommend me a car/new wife/coffee machine isn’t it?

Well not much different than a recommend me a car/new wife/coffee machine isn’t it?

A bit, yes.

Could you clarify a bit more about what you need, not an expert but might be able to have an idea in the right direction.

You have an unordered set and you wish to pick the nth ranked item?

Does the entire set need to be ordered after the first request or do you just need the first n items ordered as requested?

i.e.

100 element unodered set.

Request the 6th 2nd and 12th ranking element in that order. Therefore you would only need to fully order the top 6 items on the first request. No order would be required on the second request as 2 < 6 and the top 12 on the last request.

Not a CS person myself, but have some general advice:

– Google is your friend.

– Places like stackexchange and DSPrelated will always be better (than STW) for deep technical questions (the kind where google doesn’t help so much).

– If you know the class of algorithms you need, look for a review paper in a good journal (IEEE/ACM) which gives a good and thorough overview to the class of algorithms and will point you in the direction of the best references to find detailed algorithmic information.

the brick I am not looking for a search algorithm. Basically I was asked to order a set of data at an interview using the dichotomy algorithm.
However, as far as I have googled (yes i did google before coming on here) I failed to find such algorithm.

partition sort also known as quicksort?

From a quick google it appears that dichotomy is splitting into 2 parts so something like the quick sort that Klunk has posted would be the sort of thing that I’d use.