Recursive Algorithms Quiz

What is the primary characteristic of a recursive routine?

• It must have a stopping condition
• It must be iterative
• It must use global variables
• It must have multiple return statements

Which of the following best describes recursion?

• A method that only uses loops
• A technique that avoids using functions
• A method of solving problems by breaking them down into smaller instances
• A way to store data in arrays

What happens when a recursive routine exceeds the maximum recursion depth?

• It continues to execute
• It produces incorrect results
• It crashes with a stack overflow error
• It automatically converts to an iterative routine

In the context of tree traversal, what does 'pre-order' mean?

• Visit the root before its subtrees
• Visit the root after its subtrees
• Visit the root between its subtrees
• Visit only the left subtree

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a recursive routine?

• It must call itself
• It must have a base case
• It must use a stack
• It must have a fixed number of calls

What is the base case in a factorial based function?

• 1! = 1
• 0! = 1
• n! = n x (n-1)! for n > 0
• n! = 0 for n < 0

Which traversal method outputs the root node after its subtrees have been processed?

• Pre-order
• In-order
• Post-order
• Level-order

What is the output of the recursive routine addNums(numbers) when numbers = [3, 6, 2, 8, 1]?

• 20
• 18
• 10
• 6

Why might recursion be slower than iterative solutions?

• It uses less memory
• It is always more complex
• It requires more stack operations
• It cannot handle large datasets

For the in-order traversal algorithm, what is the first action taken?

• Output the current node's data
• Call the right subtree
• Return from the function
• Check if the left subtree exists