Which of the following describes a characteristic of arrays in coding?

Arrays are a fundamental data structure in programming that hold a collection of elements, typically of the same data type. One significant characteristic of arrays is that they have a fixed size. This means that once an array is created, the number of elements it can store is determined and cannot be changed. For instance, if an array is initialized to hold 10 integers, it can only hold 10 integers, and attempts to add more elements than this predefined size will result in an error or overflow.

This fixed size is crucial as it allows for efficient memory allocation. Since the amount of memory required for an array can be calculated in advance based on its size, it ensures that memory management is more predictable, especially in lower-level programming languages where direct memory manipulation is involved.

In contrast, the other options reflect misconceptions about arrays. Arrays can store different data types depending on the programming language used, which is why they can store both integers and strings, among other types, making the first and fourth options incorrect. The third option about recursive functions is misleading as arrays themselves are not specifically used for recursive functions; rather, they can be utilized within such functions, but recursion is defined by the nature of the function, not the data structure used. Thus, the defining feature