We want to sort an array with n elements. Quick-sort does this by breaking up the array into non-overlapping segments, sorting them separately and then combining the results.

For instance, suppose we have a box with slips of paper with numbers between 100 and 300 to be sorted. We could first separate the slips into two bunches: those with values below 200 and those with values above 200. We can sort these bunches separately. Since all the values in the second bunch are larger than those in the first bunch, we can combine them easily into a single sorted bunch. (See Sorting | Online Study Material - IARCS for a great resource on this.)