We're talking about several orders of magnitude here.
Is a web page that loads in fifty seconds 'correct' or is it wrong? Is a video format that can only decode 2 frames per second correct, or wrong?
Often, timeliness is an unstated part of the requirements, in which case an academically pleasing solution that isn't practical doesn't fulfill the requirements.
I think you're missing the point.
A quadtree is a compact way to store a partition of two-dimensional space, much like you'd store a binary heap in an array.
The implementation of a recursive data structure or algorithm can usually take advantage of tail recursion or trampolining. The practical implementation of a theoretical algorithm may look extremely different, much like you wouldn't literally translate abstract pseudocode to the language of your choice.
> Is a web page that loads in fifty seconds 'correct' or is it wrong?
Neither: it's probably using JavaScript to perform an AJAX request to get some data in a bespoke markup format, then using JavaScript to parse that markup format and build DOM entries, all because the developer thinks HTML is 'so 90s, dude!'
> Is a web page that loads in fifty seconds 'correct' or is it wrong?
Of course it is correct - this is how the internet was/is with a 14k or 56k dialup modem, I don't blame you for not remembering/not experiencing it. I remember watching JPEGs render progressively from a blurry mess one at a time, or sometimes not at all. It took way more than 50 seconds to load and render all elements on a typical website.
Is a web page that loads in fifty seconds 'correct' or is it wrong? Is a video format that can only decode 2 frames per second correct, or wrong?
Often, timeliness is an unstated part of the requirements, in which case an academically pleasing solution that isn't practical doesn't fulfill the requirements.