Sorting

Question

Recommend sorts for the following scenario:

i) A file of 15 records where each record is of a large size but the keys are simple.

ii) A large file of about 100 records.

iii) A file of 30 records where the records and keys are comparable in size.

X: insertion sort Y: quick sort Z: selection sort

A) i): X, ii): Y , iii): Z

B) i): X, ii): Z , iii): Z

C) i): Y, ii): Y , iii): X

D) i): Z, ii): Y , iii): X

Please provide explanation.

Comments

What does keys mean?

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D?

Selection sort has the least number of swaps. If the record size is large, swapping might be costly. Hence selection sort is better for sorting records with large size and small keys.

Quicksort is favoured for a large number of inputs.

I don't know how insertion sort works better when records and keys are of comparable size. Probably because, as key size increase, comparing them also might get costly. Since, in selection sort, every time we find the minimum, it will have more number of comparisons (hence favourable only for simple keys). In Insertion sort, number of comparisons can be reduced if binary search is used to find the location of the new element to be inserted.