Bubble and Merge Sort are referred to as comparison sorts because the values of the two pieces of data are compared during each step. Why are the radix and bucket sort not comparison sorts?
Answer
The Bubble and Merge sorts work by sorting each item compared to one another, whereas the Radix and Bucket sorts work by arranging each item against the list of possibilities (ones with ones, etc.).
Which sort do you think would be the fastest if you had to sort more than one deck of cards? Why?