TASK DEFINITION: In this task you will be given a text passage from a trivia quiz. You should choose the category this question belongs to from these categories: History, Science, Social Science, Fine Arts, Literature. You can only choose one category, so if in doubt, please choose the closest match.
PROBLEM: In 1999, McIlroy created an adversary for this algorithm that guarantees that it will run in worst-case time. Its worst-case runtime can be avoided by switching to heapsort after a certain recursion depth, a construction known as introsort. Like mergesort, it is easily parallelizable, and its runtime can be decreased by first selecting the median of the unsorted input list. It was invented by C.A.R. Hoare, and its second phase is the partition function, which splits the original list into lists of elements that are greater or less than the chosen pivot value. For 10 points, identify this divide-and-conquer sorting algorithm which runs in big O of n log n time, named for its speed.

SOLUTION: Science

PROBLEM: This artist depicted a certain structure "at Bellevue" and "at Montbriand". In addition to those depictions of The Pigeon House, he depicted the titular shirtless black man in jeans resting his head in one work, while a man dressed completely dressed in white gestures to a black and white harlequin in another. In addition to The Negro Scipion and Fastnacht, he created various depictions of an Avenue at (*) Chantilly, and Paul Alexis reads to one of his friends in another work. Rilke wrote some letters on this artist, who depicted a large crevice in the title structure in his House with Burst Walls, and depicted his mother knitting as his sister plays the piano in The Overture to Tannhuser. For 10 points, name this artist who was represented by Claude Lantier in The Masterpiece by Emile Zola.

SOLUTION: Fine Arts

PROBLEM: One composer from this country repeated the phrase "Tirilil Tove" in one of his choral Rose Garden Songs. Another composer from this country imitated a cork pop at the beginning of his "Champagne Galop." A composer from this country conducted the premiere of Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor and wrote the overture Echoes of Ossian. The "Ephphatha Chorus" ends the opera Antikrist by a composer from this country who also wrote Music of the Spheres. A composer from this country instructed the snare drum to improvise as if to stop the orchestra's progress in his Symphony No. That composer of a noted wind quintet created a battle between sets of timpani in his Symphony No. , dubbed "Inextinguishable." For 10 points, name this home country of Niels Gade, Rued Langgaard, and Carl Nielsen.

SOLUTION:
Fine Arts