Numerical Study of Depth of Recursion in Complexity Measurement Using Halstead Measure
A.E. Okeyinka, O.M. Bamigbola

Abstract
Complexity of algorithms has been studied analytically using the concept of Big O notation. One of the flaws of the study is that the complexities obtained for algorithms are in most cases the same; whereas in reality such algorithms might vary in terms of efficiency. The reason for the disparity is, of course, due to the definition of the Big O itself which mathematically is sound anyway. However, for pragmatic purposes, there is need for estimating actual complexities of each algorithm to be sure of which one is the best given more than one algorithms solving the same problem. In this study, recursion is considered and the complexities of recursive algorithms are estimated numerically using Halstead measure. Our findings show that recursive algorithms are more complex and hence less efficient than non-recursive algorithms.

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