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.