The Big-O of Mathematics and Computer Science

Firdous Ahmad Mala, Rouf Ali
2022 Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computation  
In this paper, we review the basic notion of the Big-O notation, also known as the Bachmann-Landau notation, that is frequent and prevalent in the study of the computational complexity of algorithms. Though this notation has been in use for quite some time, the authors feel that there is still scope for some literature in this direction. And this paper is an attempt for the same. We start with the discussion of a very brief chronological history of the various attempts made at understanding and
more » ... calculating the computational complexities of algorithms. We show, using examples, how the Big-O notation could turn out to be a better, easier and more informative notation compared to the limit notation of a function. We point out some common Big-O orders that one comes across during the evaluation of the computational complexities of algorithms and functions. Finally, we show how the Big-O notation follows transitivity.
doi:10.26855/jamc.2022.03.001 fatcat:szd2lqwuuresld2qjxqx5hpbma