PHP Program for Median of two sorted arrays of same size Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes Like Article Like Report Write a PHP program for a given 2 sorted arrays A and B of size n each. the task is to find the median of the array obtained by merging the above 2 arrays(i.e. array of length 2n). The complexity should be O(log(n)). Examples: Input: ar1[] = {1, 12, 15, 26, 38} ar2[] = {2, 13, 17, 30, 45}Output: 16Explanation:After merging two arrays, we get {1, 2, 12, 13, 15, 17, 26, 30, 38, 45}The middle two elements are 15 and 17The average of middle elements is (15 + 17)/2 which is equal to 16 Recommended: Please solve it on “PRACTICE ” first, before moving on to the solution. Note : Since size of the set for which we are looking for median is even (2n), we need take average of middle two numbers and return floor of the average. PHP Program for Median of two sorted arrays of same size using Simply count while Merging:Use merge procedure of merge sort. Keep track of count while comparing elements of two arrays. If count becomes n(For 2n elements), we have reached the median. Take the average of the elements at indexes n-1 and n in the merged array. Below is the implementation of the above approach: PHP <?php // A Simple Merge based O(n) solution // to find median of two sorted arrays // This function returns median of // ar1[] and ar2[]. Assumptions in // this function: Both ar1[] and ar2[] // are sorted arrays Both have n elements function getMedian($ar1, $ar2, $n) { // Current index of i/p array ar1[] $i = 0; // Current index of i/p array ar2[] $j = 0; $count; $m1 = -1; $m2 = -1; // Since there are 2n elements, // median will be average of elements // at index n-1 and n in the array // obtained after merging ar1 and ar2 for ($count = 0; $count <= $n; $count++) { // Below is to handle case where // all elements of ar1[] are smaller // than smallest(or first) element of ar2[] if ($i == $n) { $m1 = $m2; $m2 = $ar2[0]; break; } // Below is to handle case where all // elements of ar2[] are smaller than // smallest(or first) element of ar1[] else if ($j == $n) { $m1 = $m2; $m2 = $ar1[0]; break; } if ($ar1[$i] < $ar2[$j]) { // Store the prev median $m1 = $m2; $m2 = $ar1[$i]; $i++; } else { // Store the prev median $m1 = $m2; $m2 = $ar2[$j]; $j++; } } return ($m1 + $m2) / 2; } // Driver Code $ar1 = array(1, 12, 15, 26, 38); $ar2 = array(2, 13, 17, 30, 45); $n1 = sizeof($ar1); $n2 = sizeof($ar2); if ($n1 == $n2) echo("Median is " . getMedian($ar1, $ar2, $n1)); else echo("Doesn't work for arrays". "of unequal size"); // This code is contributed by Ajit. ?> Output Median is 16 Time Complexity: O(n)Auxiliary Space: O(1) PHP Program for Median of two sorted arrays of same size (By comparing the medians of two arrays):Step-by-step approach: Merge the two input arrays ar1[] and ar2[].Sort ar1[] and ar2[] respectively.The median will be the last element of ar1[] + the firstelement of ar2[] divided by 2. [(ar1[n-1] + ar2[0])/2].Below is the implementation of the above approach: PHP <?php function getMedian($ar1, $ar2, $n) { $j = 0; $i = $n - 1; while ($ar1[$i] > $ar2[$j] && $j < $n && $i > -1) { $temp = $ar1[$i]; $ar1[$i] = $ar2[$j]; $ar2[$j] = $temp; $j++; $i--; } sort($ar1); sort($ar2); return ($ar1[$n - 1] + $ar2[0]) / 2; } $ar1 = array(1, 12, 15, 26, 38); $ar2 = array(2, 13, 17, 30, 45); $n1 = count($ar1); $n2 = count($ar2); if ($n1 == $n2) { echo "Median is " . getMedian($ar1, $ar2, $n1); } else { echo "Doesn't work for arrays of unequal size"; } ?> OutputMedian is 16Time Complexity: O(nlogn)Auxiliary Space: O(1) PHP Program for Median of two sorted arrays of same size using Binary Search:Step-by-step approach: We can find the kth element by using binary search on whole range of constraints of elements. Initialize ans = 0.0Initialize low = -10^9, high = 10^9 and pos = nRun a loop while(low <= high):Calculate mid = (low + (high – low)>>1)Find total elements less or equal to mid in the given arraysIf the count is less or equal to posUpdate low = mid + 1Else high = mid – 1Store low in ans, i.e., ans = low.Again follow step3 with pos as n – 1Return (sum + low * 1.0)/2Median of two sorted arrays of same sizeBelow is the implementation of the above approach: PHP <?php function getMedian($arr1, $arr2, $n) { $low = (int)-1e9; $high = (int)1e9; $pos = $n; $ans = 0.0; // Binary search to find the element which will be // present at pos = totalLen/2 after merging two // arrays in sorted order while ($low <= $high) { $mid = $low + (($high - $low) >> 1); // Total number of elements in arrays which are // less than mid $ub = count(array_filter($arr1, function($x) use ($mid) { return $x <= $mid; })) + count(array_filter($arr2, function($x) use ($mid) { return $x <= $mid; })); if ($ub <= $pos) { $low = $mid + 1; } else { $high = $mid - 1; } } $ans = $low; // As there are even numbers of elements, we will // also have to find the element at pos = totalLen/2 - 1 $pos--; $low = (int)-1e9; $high = (int)1e9; while ($low <= $high) { $mid = $low + (($high - $low) >> 1); $ub = count(array_filter($arr1, function($x) use ($mid) { return $x <= $mid; })) + count(array_filter($arr2, function($x) use ($mid) { return $x <= $mid; })); if ($ub <= $pos) { $low = $mid + 1; } else { $high = $mid - 1; } } // Average of two elements in case of even // number of elements $ans = ($ans + $low) / 2; return $ans; } $arr1 = array(1, 4, 5, 6, 10); $arr2 = array(2, 3, 4, 5, 7); $n = count($arr1); $median = getMedian($arr1, $arr2, $n); echo "Median is " . $median . PHP_EOL; ?> OutputMedian is 4.5 Time Complexity: O(log n)Auxiliary Space: O(1) Please refer complete article on Median of two sorted arrays of same size for more details! Comment More infoAdvertise with us Next Article PHP Syntax K kartik Follow Improve Article Tags : PHP Similar Reads PHP Tutorial PHP is a popular, open-source scripting language mainly used in web development. It runs on the server side and generates dynamic content that is displayed on a web application. PHP is easy to embed in HTML, and it allows developers to create interactive web pages and handle tasks like database mana 9 min read BasicsPHP SyntaxPHP, a powerful server-side scripting language used in web development. Itâs simplicity and ease of use makes it an ideal choice for beginners and experienced developers. This article provides an overview of PHP syntax. 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