Digital Dice

Part of Merge Sort · Section 2 of 8

IntroductionUnit: 3.1 Fundamentals of AlgorithmsGCSE

This introduction covers Digital Dice within Merge Sort for GCSE Computer Science. Revise Merge Sort in 3.1 Fundamentals of Algorithms for GCSE Computer Science with 16 exam-style questions and 10 flashcards. This topic appears less often, but it can still be a useful differentiator on mixed-topic papers. It is section 2 of 8 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

Digital Dice

Games, simulations, and security all need randomness. Rolling dice? Drawing lottery numbers? Shuffling cards? Generating passwords? All need random numbers. Computers use pseudo-random number generators - they're not truly random (they follow formulas) but are good enough for most uses. A seed value starts the sequence - same seed gives same "random" numbers!

Practice questions for Merge Sort

Which design strategy does merge sort use?

A. Brute force — try every possible ordering
B. Greedy — always pick the locally best element
C. Divide and conquer — split the list, sort halves, then merge
D. Dynamic programming — store results to avoid repeated work

1 markfoundation

Describe how merge sort works. You should include what happens in both the divide and merge phases.

3 marksstandard

Quick recall flashcards

Is merge sort a recursive algorithm?

Yes - it calls itself on smaller sub-lists

What technique does merge sort use?

Divide and conquer - splits list in half repeatedly then merges sorted halves

Video Lesson

Sorting Algorithm Flowchart

16 questions on Merge Sort — practise free

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