离散数学英文讲义：3-2 The Growth of Functions.pptVIP

Company Logo L o g o L o g o * * Discrete Mathematics South China University of Technology Dr. Han Huang * * Section 3.2 Chapter 3. Algorithms, Division and Matrix * * Contents Introduction 1 Big-O 2 Big-Theta 3 * * Introduction * Orders of Growth - Motivation Suppose you are designing a web site to process user data (e.g., financial records). Suppose database program A takes fA(n)=30n+8 microseconds to process any n records, while program B takes fB(n)=n2+1 microseconds to process the n records. Which program do you choose, knowing you’ll want to support millions of users? * Visualizing Orders of Growth On a graph, asyou go to theright, the faster-growing func-tion always eventuallybecomes thelarger one... fA(n)=30n+8 Increasing n ? fB(n)=n2+1 Value of function ? * Concept of order of growth We say fA(n)=30n+8 is (at most) order n, or O(n). It is, at most, roughly proportional to n. fB(n)=n2+1 is order n2, or O(n2). It is (at most) roughly proportional to n2. Any function whose exact (tightest) order is O(n2) is faster-growing than any O(n) function. Later we will introduce Θ for expressing exact order. For large numbers of user records, the exactly order n2 function will always take more time. * * Big-O Notation * Definition: O(g), at most order g Let g be any function R?R. Define “at most order g”, written O(g), to be: {f:R?R | ?c,k: ?xk: f(x) ? cg(x)}. “Beyond some point k, function f is at most a constant c times g (i.e., proportional to g).” “f is at most order g”, or “f is O(g)”, or “f=O(g)” all just mean that f?O(g). Often the phrase “at most” is omitted. * Points about the definition Note that f is O(g) so long as any values of c and k exist that satisfy the definition. But: The particular c, k, values that make the statement true are not unique: Any larger value of c and/or k will also work. You are not required to find the smallest c and k values that work. (Indeed, in some cases, there may be no smallest values!) However, you should prove t