O(log n) algorithm to find the element having rank i in union of pre-sorted lists
- by Eternal Learner
Given two sorted lists, each containing n real numbers, is there a O(log?n) time algorithm to compute the element of rank i (where i coresponds to index in increasing order) in the union of the two lists, assuming the elements of the two lists are distinct?
I can think of using a Merge procedure to merge the 2 lists and then find the A[i] element in constant time. But the Merge would take O(n) time. How do we solve it in O(log n) time?