Using symbolic computation for teaching data structures and algorithm analysis
Once students have been introduced to the concept of big-O, a common assignment is one in which students are asked to put several functions in order according to growth, showing that these functions grow at different rates.
Abstract
Once students have been introduced to the concept of big-O, a common assignment is one in which students are asked to put several functions in order according to growth. For example, log(n) comes betbre rt, which in turn comes betbre nlog(n). Even though it is obvious to students that the values associated with log(n) are smaller than those associated with n for any given n greater than or equal to one, what is really important is that these functions grow at different rates, one growing much faster than the other as n grows.