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Subject: Re: Isn't this a bit off topic? (NT)

Author: Dann Corbit

Date: 16:53:39 05/09/01

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On May 09, 2001 at 19:51:46, Peter McKenzie wrote:

>On May 09, 2001 at 16:52:12, Dann Corbit wrote:
>
>>By now it is.
>>
>>At one time, it was a discussion as to whether the game of chess algorithm is
>>O(1) or something else.  I tried to show that it is O(exp(n)), and others argue
>>that it is O(1).  I tried to get a formal agreement on definitions of terms, and
>>it seems that even that cannot be achieved.
>
>To me the question doesn't make sense.  I mean, what is N ??

The number of plies searched.  If your branching factor is larger than one, then
the process must be exponential.

>It only makes sense to talk about big-O notation when you have an 'N' which
>varies with different inputs doesn't it?
>
>For sorting, 'N' is the number of elements to be sorted.  For chess, what is 'N'
>?  Do you want 'N' to be the number of pieces left on the board?  Or perhaps you
>are interested in some family of chess like games where the board can be of any
>size?
>
>cheers,
>Peter (being sucked into the off-topic void :-)

There's no escape, I'm afraid.



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