Quicksort is a classic example of which algorithm design paradigm?

• A. Greedy
• B. Backtracking
• C. Divide and conquer
• D. Dynamic programming

Answer: (C)

Quicksort is a prime example of dividing a problem into smaller pieces, solving those pieces, and then combining the results to form the final solution. It picks a pivot, partitions the array into elements less than and greater than the pivot, and then sorts each part with the same process. Once the subarrays are sorted, the final order is obtained by putting the sorted left part, the pivot, and the sorted right part together. This continuous recursion and reassembly is the essence of divide and conquer. The other paradigms don’t describe this pattern: greedy would optimize step by step with possibly local choices that don’t guarantee the whole array is sorted; backtracking would involve exploring alternatives and undoing decisions; dynamic programming would solve overlapping subproblems and reuse results, which isn’t how quicksort structures its work.