William Joe McCann
The Most Misunderstood Concept
When the discussion of computational complexity comes up, its often used as a way to compare algorithms in order to choose which is best. The standard discussion though goes as “Unga bunga, my algo is $n$ and yours is $n^2$ so lets use mine”, when normally it is not that simple. This stems from the fact that the notation was developed for number theory, and then co-opted by computer scientists who tend to be more loosey goosey with things1. In this section of notes I will teach you what the notation actually means, which can give you a better insight into determining what this does.
In industry that is ↩︎