Asymptotic Notation
Published by: Anil K. Panta
When writing programs, we often ask:
How fast will this program run if we give it more and more data?
To answer this, computer scientists use a method called Asymptotic Analysis.
Let’s understand it step-by-step in simple words.
What is Asymptotic Analysis?
Asymptotic analysis helps us understand how an algorithm performs when the input becomes very large.
Instead of testing a program on a computer, we study the math behind it to know how its speed or memory usage will grow.
This way, we don’t need to worry about:
The computer model
Programming language
Internet speed or device speed
What are Asymptotic Notations?
Asymptotic notations are symbols used to describe the time and space complexity (how long an algorithm takes and how much memory it uses).
There are three main types:
Big Oh (O) – Worst-case performance
Big Omega (Ω) – Best-case performance
Big Theta (Θ) – Average or exact performance
