Re:Say O(n²) Eighty Eight Times Fast
by ggchappell on Monday September 29, 2014 @04:23PM
(#8385049)
"O(n^2)" should definitely not have a literal reading involving any words like "algorithm", "efficiency", or "time". This notation is not about algorithms or anything else in computing; it is about the growth of a (mathematical) function.
In computer science, the foremost application of such notation is to the time-complexity function of an algorithm. But there are other applications within C.S., and many more outside it.
OTOH, there is a difference between reading the notation as written, and interpreting the concept. Certainly there is a place in computing for talking about "quadratic time complexity". In such a situation, we might write "O(n^2)". That would be literally read as "(big-)Oh of n squared", but in context it might be telling us something about time complexity, and there isn't anything wrong with reading it that way.
Note: I always say the "big" in "big-O", because standard mathematical notation also includes "little-o", which is also about asymptotic growth rate. Little-o is far less common in C.S., though.
In computer science, the foremost application of such notation is to the time-complexity function of an algorithm. But there are other applications within C.S., and many more outside it.
OTOH, there is a difference between reading the notation as written, and interpreting the concept. Certainly there is a place in computing for talking about "quadratic time complexity". In such a situation, we might write "O(n^2)". That would be literally read as "(big-)Oh of n squared", but in context it might be telling us something about time complexity, and there isn't anything wrong with reading it that way.
Note: I always say the "big" in "big-O", because standard mathematical notation also includes "little-o", which is also about asymptotic growth rate. Little-o is far less common in C.S., though.