What is the time complexity of finding the maximum element in an unsorted array?

Practice Questions

Q1
What is the time complexity of finding the maximum element in an unsorted array?
  1. O(n)
  2. O(log n)
  3. O(n log n)
  4. O(1)

Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions

What is the time complexity of finding the maximum element in an unsorted array?
  • Step 1: Understand that an unsorted array means the elements are in no particular order.
  • Step 2: To find the maximum element, you need to look at each element in the array.
  • Step 3: Start from the first element and compare it with the next one to see which is larger.
  • Step 4: Continue this process for all elements in the array until you reach the end.
  • Step 5: Keep track of the largest element you find during these comparisons.
  • Step 6: Once you have checked all elements, the largest one you tracked is the maximum element.
  • Step 7: Since you had to check each element once, the time it takes grows with the number of elements, which is why we say the time complexity is O(n).
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