The space factor when determining the efficiency of an algorithm is measured by counting the maximum memory needed by the algorithm.
Explanation
- Space complexity refers to the amount of memory an algorithm uses to solve a problem, including memory for input data and intermediate computations.
- The key measure for the space factor is the maximum memory required at any point during the execution, which gives an upper bound on memory consumption.
- This is often called the worst-case space complexity, as it helps ensure the algorithm will run within memory limits on all inputs.
This concept is fundamental in analyzing algorithms to understand their memory usage efficiency alongside time efficiency.
