What does "union find" mean in programming?
union find is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.
Definition
A data structure that tracks a collection of elements partitioned into disjoint sets. Supports two operations: find (which set does an element belong to?) and union (merge two sets). Also called a disjoint set union (DSU). Used in graph algorithms like Kruskal's minimum spanning tree and cycle detection.
Example
"Union find detects a cycle in an undirected graph: if two vertices already share a root, adding an edge between them would create a cycle."
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