Item — HN Reader

...an algorithm or data structure operation described as being 'O(n)' could really be 'O(n) + x'

No it should not. (O(N) + x) is O(N). That is how it works, is spoken about... What it means!

It is a very simple minded article, and IMO misleading, but it is better than "(O(N) + x) is bigger than O(N)". In the sense of order analysis, it is not.

1 comments

Well yes, that's what I said, although I guess I could have used 'n + x operations' to keep it consistent with the article and still in line with the formal definition.

Yeah, you really could have. It also grinds me when people will say "it's O(n), not O(n^(3/2))", because the former is a subset of later, not to mention talking about worst case/average case/best case. Big O notation has nothing to do with probabilities, literally nothing.