Which sorting algorithm has the best average-case time complexity?
Practice Questions
Q1
Which sorting algorithm has the best average-case time complexity?
Bubble Sort
Insertion Sort
Merge Sort
Selection Sort
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
Which sorting algorithm has the best average-case time complexity?
Step 1: Understand what sorting algorithms are. They are methods used to arrange data in a specific order, like from smallest to largest.
Step 2: Learn about time complexity. This tells us how the time to sort data changes as the amount of data increases.
Step 3: Know that 'average-case time complexity' means how long an algorithm takes to sort data on average, not the best or worst case.
Step 4: Identify some common sorting algorithms: Bubble Sort, Quick Sort, and Merge Sort.
Step 5: Check the average-case time complexities of these algorithms: Bubble Sort is O(n^2), Quick Sort is O(n log n), and Merge Sort is O(n log n).
Step 6: Compare the average-case time complexities. O(n log n) is better than O(n^2).
Step 7: Conclude that Merge Sort and Quick Sort both have the best average-case time complexity of O(n log n), but Merge Sort is often preferred for its stability.
