Why do we always assume the worst-case scenario in Big O?
Designing for the worst case ensures that the software will remain stable and performant under extreme load, preventing unexpected timeouts and crashes.
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More FAQs in The Difference Between Best, Worst, and Average Case
The best case is O(1) Constant Time, which happens if the target element is located at the very first index of the array.
For simple searches, yes (both O(N)). But for complex algorithms like Quick Sort or Hash Map insertions, the average case is significantly faster than the worst case.
Rarely, but they may ask about the Average Case to test your deeper understanding of how algorithms perform probabilistically in the real world.
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