Master theorem (analysis of algorithms)

In the analysis of algorithms, the master theorem for divide-and-conquer recurrences provides an asymptotic analysis for many recurrence relations that occur in the analysis of divide-and-conquer algorithms. The approach was first presented by Jon Bentley, Dorothea Blostein (née Haken), and James B. Saxe in 1980, where it was described as a "unifying method" for solving such recurrences. The name "master theorem" was popularized by the widely-used algorithms textbook Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein.

Not all recurrence relations can be solved by this theorem; its generalizations include the Akra–Bazzi method.