AQA (8525)

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.

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.

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.