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Reference.org
Output-sensitive algorithm
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Computer_science/lN3pEyPz">computer science</a>, an output-sensitive algorithm is an <a href="/facts/Algorithm/fnl5NmRt">algorithm</a> whose running time depends on the size of the output, instead of, or in addition to, the size of the input. For certain problems where the output size varies widely, for example from linear in the size of the input to quadratic in the size of the input, analyses that take the output size explicitly into account can produce better runtime bounds that differentiate algorithms that would otherwise have identical asymptotic complexity. </p>