Practice question · Match the pairs
Match each quality or property to its meaning.
- Correctness
- Efficiency
- Finite
- Definite
- Every step is unambiguous
- Right output for every valid input, edge cases included
- The procedure always terminates
- How time and memory grow with the input size
Hints
- Two of these are the definitional requirements of an algorithm; two are qualities it is judged on.
- Keep 'always stops' separate from 'no ambiguous step'.
Show the answer
- Correctness → Right output for every valid input, edge cases included
- Efficiency → How time and memory grow with the input size
- Finite → The procedure always terminates
- Definite → Every step is unambiguous
Why
Correctness and efficiency are qualities a good algorithm is judged on; finite and definite are the two requirements for something to be an algorithm at all.
Practise What Makes an Algorithm Good
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