When does the recursion stop?

• When the pieces are small enough to solve directly
• When the combine step is finished
• When the input is split in half once

Which order lists the three moves of divide and conquer?

• Combine, split, solve
• Split, solve, combine
• Solve, combine, split

If splitting is free and combining scans the pieces, the combine dominates.

One piece holds almost all the input, yet the split is free and the combine is cheap. Why can this still pay off?

• The problem still shrinks every round while split and combine stay cheap
• The larger piece counts as already solved
• Free splits remove the need to combine

A method splits for free, solves both halves the same way, and scans the halves to combine. Where does most of the work sit?

• In the split
• In the leaves
• In the combine

You split a task into 2 pieces, then split every piece into 2 again. How many pieces do you hold?

A friend must add up a long list with divide and conquer. Which plan follows the method?

• Sort the list first, then add from largest to smallest
• Add the numbers left to right in a single pass
• Split the list, add each half the same way, then add the two sums

A student rejects an uneven split without checking any costs. What is the mistake?

• They skipped the cheap base case
• They judged by symmetry instead of by total cost
• They combined before splitting