Complexity
There are different measurements of the speed of any given
algorithm. Given an input size of N, they can be
described as follows:
| Name |
Speed |
Description |
|
| exponential time |
slow |
takes an amount of time proportional to a constant raised to
the Nth power (K^N) |
|
| polynomial time |
fast |
takes an amount of time proportional to N
raised to some constant power (N^K) |
|
| linear time |
faster |
takes an amount of time directly proportional to
N (K * N) |
|
| logarithmic time |
much faster |
takes an amount of time proportional to the logarithm of
N (log(N)) |
|
| constant time |
fastest |
takes a fixed amount of time, no matter how large the input
is (K) |