What is a characteristic of exponential time complexity?

A characteristic of exponential time complexity is that it grows very quickly and becomes impractical for large inputs. This complexity is typically expressed in the form O(2^n) or O(b^n), where b is a constant greater than 1 and n is the size of the input. As the input size increases, the growth of the function escalates rapidly, leading to a significant increase in the time required to complete the computation.

For example, if the input size n is increased by just 1, the time required can double or grow by a factor of b. This rapid increase makes algorithms with exponential time complexity unsuitable for large datasets, as they can take an impractical amount of time to compute even for moderately sized inputs.

In contrast, linear (which grows proportionally to the input size), quadratic (which grows with the square of the input size), and constant time complexities do not exhibit this dramatic growth and are often manageable for larger inputs. Therefore, exponential growth sets itself apart due to its dire implications for performance in practical scenarios.