Big O notation is one of the most fundamental concepts to know for interviewing in Computer Science. It's imperative that you know this like the back of your hand. It will be relevant for almost every single technical interview question you encounter.

This is absolutely everything you need to know about Big O Notation. It can be a challenging concept to grasp at first, but once it *clicks*, it'll come naturally. 😀

### Introduction: How can we compare algorithms?

Let's start by asking ourselves: what's the best way to compare algorithms? There are many different ways to sort a list - how do we know which is best? We need some framework to be able to say that algorithm 1 is "better" than algorithm 2.

First, "better" can mean many things. What do we care about? What do we want to optimize? Two common answers to this question are readability and efficiency.

Readability is concerned with how clean the code is. Is it well commented? How easy is it to make a change? Can I read it without wanting to claw my eyes out?

Efficiency is where Big O comes in. How efficient is this code in terms of time (how long it takes to run) and space (the amount of memory it needs)? We want a basis to compare algorithm efficiency.

What if we use number of lines as a basis? Algorithm 1 is better than Algorithm 2 because there are less lines of code. Well, this doesn't measure efficiency very effectively. The same algorithm can be implemented with drastically different line counts. I can put all my braces on new lines, does that make the algorithm less efficient? Clearly, this won't work. 👎

Okay, what if we use time to compare instead? Algorithm 1 is better than Algorithm 2 because it runs in less time. This is better, but my code can run at different speeds depending on where I run it. If I run my code on a supercomputer, it'll run much faster than on my laptop. Actually, my code can take varying times to run on the same machine, depending on various factors like what processes are currently running. This won't work well either. 👎

Big O notation gives us a method to compare algorithm efficiency. It asks the question,

What is the worst-case runtime of this algorithm relative to its input size?

To determine the Big O complexity, we don't need to count the number of lines or time how long it takes to run. Instead, we just look at the basic steps of the algorithm. This gives us a machine-independent basis to judge which algorithm is more efficient, in terms of both time and space. 👍

The formal definition is as follows: if an algorithm has a runtime of O(f(n)), then for large enough n, the runtime is at most c*f(n) for some constant c. This sounds complicated, but bear with me.

All it says is that for an algorithm to have a time complexity of O(f(n)), I should be able to pick some constant c and a point n where c*f(n) will always be greater than the runtime. A graph is the best way to see this:

In this case, n0 is the point at which c*f(n) will always greater than our runtime. Since this point exists, our runtime is O(f(n)). If this doesn't make sense right now, don't worry. Keep reading and come back to this once you've got the hang of things.

### The Basic Rules of Big O

There are some simple rules to follow when using Big O notation.

### Rule #1: Ignore the constants

With Big O, we only care about growth rate. How does this algorithm scale as the input size n gets very large? Well, multiplying by a constant factor doesn't make much of a difference for large numbers, so it's left out. For example,

$$O(3n) = O(n)$$ $$O(\frac{1}{2} \log n) = O(\log n)$$
Note: In practice, constact factors can matter dramatically. For theoretical purposes they are ignored since we only care about what happens asympotically.

### Rule #2: Ignore lower order terms

We're only concerned with asymptotic upper bounds. Asympotically, complexities like O(n2 + 1) are equivalent to O(n2). The term with the greatest growth rate dominates the expression. In other words,

$$O(f(x)+g(x))=O(max(f(x),g(x)))$$

You can use this general chain of dominating terms when simplifying:

$$O(1) \lt O(\log n) \lt O(n) \lt O(n \log n)$$$$\lt O(n^2) \lt O(2^n) \lt O(n!)$$

Some examples,

$$O(n^2 + 3n + 10000000000) = O(n^2)$$ $$O(n^{9999} + 50n \log n + 2^n) = O(2^n)$$

### Rule #3: Use differing variables for differing inputs

You may be wondering: what if our algorithm depends on the sizes of two different inputs? In that case, use a different variable for each input, like O(s + t) or O(n*m).

Note: Don't get hung up on the variable name inside of the O(). By convention, things like arrays use n and m, whereas strings use s and t. This is only convention; it doesn't matter what you use as long as it's reasonable.

$$O(f(x))+O(g(x))=O(f(x)+g(x))$$

How can we use this? Let's look at an example:


// Return true if either string contains c.
function exists_char(str1, str2, c) {
for (int i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
if (str1[i] == c) {
return true;
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < str2.length; i++) {
if (str2[i] == c) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}


In the worst case, we need to entirely look through both str1 and str2. Since this happens one after another (the for-loops aren't nested), we add the complexities to get O(s) + O(t) which is O(s + t), where s and t are the respective lengths.

### Rule #5: Multiplication rule

$$O(f(x))∗O(g(x))=O(f(x)∗g(x))$$

This comes into play when we see some sort of nesting.


function nested_strings(str1, str2) {
for (int i = 0; i < str1.length; i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < str2.length; j++) {
console.log("These loops are nested");
}
}
}


Since we're executing the inner loop for every outer loop iteration, we get a runtime of O(s*t).

### Most Common Big O Complexities

These are the most common runtimes that you'll encounter.

### O(1) - Constant Time

An algorithm has a complexity of O(1) if the runtime is independent of the input size. For example,


function one_plus_one() {
return 1 + 1;
}


In this case, no matter what I pass to this function, the runtime stays constant. So, we say it has a complexity of O(1).

### O(log n) - Logarithmic Time

An algorithm has a complexity of O(log n) if the runtime is logarithmic to its input size. You want to look for when you have some sort of division of work.

Binary search is the most common example here. Consider this: you have a phone book sorted by last name and are looking for John Doe. Binary search says to open to the middle of the book, and look for Doe. Let's say you've flipped to the page with the letter M. Since the phone book is sorted, and D < M, you can rip out the second half of the phone book, and repeat your search in the remaining half.

If we start with N elements, then after one step we're left with N / 2. After another we have N / 4, and so on. Since the search space is halved every time, you have a logarithmic runtime (in this case, with a base of 2).

Note that the base of the log does not matter with Big O notation. Why? Because the change of base of a logarithm means multiplication by a constant factor. For example,

$$\log_{2}n = (\frac{1}{\log 2}) \log n = c\log n$$

Similar logic applies for log(nk).

$$\log n^k = k \log n$$

By Rule #1, we don't care about these constant factors, so we just write O(log n) without the base.

Careful - this is different from O(logkn).

### O(n) - Linear time

An algorithm has a complexity of O(n) if the runtime is linear with respect to the input size. For example,


// Return true if x is in nums.
function find(nums, x) {
for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) {
if (nums[i] == x) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}


Remember, Big O is concerned with the worst case scenario. In the worst case, we need to traverse through all n of the elements, so this has complexity O(n).

Note: it's technically correct to say that this algorithm runs in O(n2), O(n3), O(2n), or anything larger than O(n). Think of it this way - we want an upper bound. If I have 10 apples, I can say that 1000 is an upper bound for how many apples I have. I'd be right, but not very accurate. With Big O, we want the tightest possible upper bound.

### O(n log n) - Linearithmic time

An algorithm has a complexity of O(n log n) if it runs a logarithmic operation a linear number of times, or vice-versa. Merge sort is a very common example, among other sorting algorithms.

In fact, O(n log n) is the fastest acheivable worst-case runtime for comparision based sorting algorithms. Here's a great proof on this.

An algorithm has a complexity of O(n2) if the runtime is quadratic with respect to the input size. For example,


// Return true if there exists a pair that sums to 0.
function find_zero_pair(nums) {
for (int i = 0; i < nums.length - 1; i++) {
for (int j = i + 1; j < nums.length; j++) {
if (nums[i] + nums[j] == 0) {
return true;
}
}
}
return false;
}


This nested for-loop is a very common pattern. How do we know that it's O(n2)? Let's count the number of iterations.In the first outer loop iteration, the inner loop will run n - 1 times, where n is the length of the array. The second time, it will run n - 2 times, and so on. We get,

$$(n - 1) + (n - 2) + \dots + 1$$$$= \sum_{i = 1}^{n - 1} i$$$$= \frac{n(n-1)}{2}$$

Which is O(n2). This is one of the only summation results you have to know.

### O(2^n) - Exponential time

We've officially reached the really bad runtimes. A common example of an algorithm with an exponential runtime is this recursive implementation to return the nth fibonacci number.


function fibonacci(n){
if (n <= 1) {
return n;
} else {
return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2);
}
}


How can we find the time complexity? Let's draw a tree of the recursive calls.

Each recursive call takes O(1), since both branches of the if-statement take constant time. We have O(2n) calls, so the total runtime is O(2n).

If you're curious as to how this can be improved, check out the Introduction to Dynamic Programming.

Unlike logarithms, the base of an exponential matters. There's an exponential difference between 2n and 3n.

Note: it is often the case that the recursive complexity is O(bd), where b is the number of branches in one recursion and d is the depth of the recursive tree. But, be careful with functions where the base case and recursive case have different complexities.

### O(n!) - Factorial time

Oof. 😬 This is almost as bad as it gets. But - sometimes it's unavoidable.

What if you had to write a function to generate all permutations of an array of n numbers?

Well, there are n! permutations of n numbers, so any algorithm which generates them all must run in at least O(n!).

### Space Complexity

We can also use Big O to analyze the space complexity of an algorithm. This pertains to how much memory it uses relative to its input size.

It works exactly the same for space as it does for time. For example, if we need to create an array of size n, we need O(n) space.In recursive algorithms, stack calls are also counted in the space complexity. We need space to store these function calls on the stack. For example, what's the space complexity for the function below?


function recursive(n){
if (n < 1) {
return 1;
} else {
return 2*recursive(n - 1);
}
}


Is the space complexity O(1) because we don't use any excess variables? No - we need to consider the function calls on the stack. Ask yourself: what is the maximum number of simultaneous calls on the stack at once? For n = 3,

Each call adds a frame to the stack. Since we have O(n) calls, and one frame on the stack for every call, we need O(n) space.

Just becasue you have n recursive calls doesn't mean you need O(n) space. How about the Fibonacci example from earlier?


function fibonacci(n){
if (n <= 1) {
return n;
} else {
return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2);
}
}


By counting, we have O(2n) function calls. Does that mean we need O(2n) space? Not quite.

When a function is called, its frame is added to the stack. When it returns, the frame is popped off. All of these O(2n) function calls don't exist on the stack at the same time.

In this case, the most simultaneous calls on the stack is equal to the depth of the recursive tree. We need to, at most, store O(n) calls on the stack.

There is almost always a space-time tradeoff in algorithm design. We can trade space for time by storing things we've seen before. For example, your browser cache stores images and other content from websites you visit so that it won't have to reload them next time. Alternatively, you can trade time for space by clearing your cache. Websites will load slower, but you'll free up the cache space.

### Best and Average Case

So far we've only talked about worst case scenarios. How about best and average case? In theory (and most programming interviews), we typically care most about worst case, but in practice, best and average case may be more suitable.Worst case can also be misleading sometimes.


function weird(n){
// Get a random number between [1, 99999999]
var x = random_number(1, 99999999);
if (x == 1) {
// O(n!)
} else {
// O(n)
}
}


This is an extreme example, but you get the point. In practice, we should evaluate the tradeoffs and make reasonable decisions.

Big O is worst case. We call the best case Big Omega (Ω). Big Theta (Θ) is the average. You likely won't be asked about these in an interview, but they're good to be aware about.