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Subject: Re: A final stab at big-O

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 13:15:44 05/09/01

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On May 09, 2001 at 16:10:09, Andrew Dados wrote:
[snip]
>Guaranteed fixed number of steps means O(1) afik.

The number of steps to solve is a property of the algorithm.  All algorithms
terminate after a fixed number of steps.  That't part of the definition of the
term 'algorithm.'

If any algorithm does not terminate in a fixed number of steps, then *by
definition* is ISN'T and algorithm.

Therefore, we KNOW that the algorithm will terminate (perhaps in arbitrary
time).  If we want to estimate how long it will take, we need to know the big-O
behavior of the algorithm.  To call chess O(1) is simply not useful.



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