Question

Select the most correct statement about complexity of selection sort

Select one:
A.Both best and worst cases are O(n^2)
B.The best case is O ( n ), and the worst case is O(n^2)
C.The best case is O ( n ), and the average case is O(n^2)
D.The best case is O ( n ), and the average case is O(nlogn.

Answer 1

The most correct statement about the complexity of selection sort is that both the best and worst case scenarios have a time complexity of O(n^2), because the algorithm compares each element to every other element regardless of the array's initial state.

Step-by-step explanation:

The most correct statement about the complexity of selection sort is: Both best and worst cases are O(n^2).

Selection sort is a simple comparison-based algorithm where the list is divided into two parts: the sorted part at the left end and the unsorted part at the right end. Initially, the sorted part is empty and the unsorted part is the entire list.

The algorithm proceeds by finding the smallest (or largest, depending on the sorting order) element in the unsorted subarray, swapping it with the leftmost unsorted element, and moving the sublist boundaries one element to the right.

No matter what the state of the array is, even if it's already sorted, the algorithm will still go through the entire array and perform the selection process for each element, leading to a time complexity of O(n^2) in all cases. This is because it does not break out of its loop early; it always compares each element to every other element.