It can be quadratic. Think about drawing all possible lines between points (possible components in software): Make a table with columns being # points and the

It can be quadratic. Think about drawing all possible lines between points (possible components in software): Make a table with columns being # points and the # lines you can draw between them. 1 0 2 1 3 3 (triangle) 4 6 (box with a criss cross) 5 10 (5 point star, with everything connected) ... This relation is n * (n - 1) / 2