Try generating a map with about 5 cities, and press "Start" to solve the problem.

{button-link link="http://www.csfieldguide.org.nz/releases/1.9.9/_static/widgets/tract-tsp-basic-v2.html" text="View city trip interactive"

Now try it for 10 cities (twice as many). Does it take twice as long? How about twice as many again (20 cities)? What about 50 cities? Can you guess how long it would take?