3.1.2 Efficiency of Algorithms

What does the term ‘time complexity’ tell you about an algorithm and why is it important to know the time complexity when comparing two algorithms?

If you have a large database and need to find records quickly, would you choose a linear search or a hashed search method? Explain your answer.

If you have a sorted list and you need to find a specific item, would you choose a linear search or a binary search? Explain your choice.

A developer used two different sorting algorithms to arrange a list of numbers in ascending order. Algorithm A is a selection sort (time complexity of O(n^2)), and Algorithm B is a quicksort (time complexity of O(n log n)). Which algorithm is likely to be more time-efficient for sorting large datasets and why?

Explain why an iterative algorithm might be more time-efficient than a recursive algorithm for calculating numbers in a sequence.