The answer
Yes, the base case defines when the recursion stops. If the base case is poorly designed, it can cause the recursion to run infinitely, leading to a Stack Overflow.
Analyzing the Time Complexity of Recursive Functions
Does the base case affect time complexity?
More FAQs in Analyzing the Time Complexity of Recursive Functions
You determine the total number of times the function is recursively called (the nodes in the recursion tree) and multiply it by the amount of non-recursive work done in each call.
If it decrements by 1 (e.g., n-1) and makes a single call, it forms a straight line of N calls, resulting in O(N) Linear Time.
Because instead of decrementing by 1, it divides the input size by 2 on each recursive call, slashing the required number of calls logarithmically.
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