- essential for all other branches of computer science further study
- key role in modern technological innovation
- Mathematical analysis
- Translate them to code
- Worst-case analysis, (average-case analysis & bench marks) require domain knowledge
- Won't pay attention to constant factors, lower-order terms
- Asymptotic analysis: focus on running time for large input size
- High-level idea:
- Suppress const and factors (highly depend on env)
- lower-order terms (increasing relevant) for large input