#411 overall
Algebra
Khan Academy
1 recommender · 1 thread · recommended in 1 year, 2015 · score 1.0
Khan Academy's free online algebra course covering foundational algebra topics in short video lessons with practice exercises.
Commenters point to Khan Academy's algebra and calculus courses as awesome and a good way to build the prerequisite math needed for CS topics.
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20062026
Go for it! Khan academy calculus and algebra courses are awesome. Also, Calculus One on Coursera is really good.
Big O notation is an expression of a theoretical concept that applies to the algorithm itself. It is independent of any hardware that might be used to implement an algorithm.
Specifically, asymptotic complexity is an expression of the number of abstract operations or units of memory an algorithm will require. The meaning of "operation" or "unit of memory" depends on the algorithm. In the case of comparison sorting algorithms, for example, the operation in question is the number of comparisons.
Even if the CPU time allotted to a running algorithm changes due to system load or overheating, the algorithm still performs the same number of operations. Actual running time under system load can be calculated, but this is unrelated to big-O notation or complexity.
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Regarding your explanation, it is excessively wordy and uses awkward phrasing. Your subsequent complaint about the terminology used in responses to your previous questions about P=NP demonstrates a serious lack of prerequisite knowledge. You learn the definition of "polynomial" in algebra; teaching you algebra is far beyond the scope of a discussion on HN.
As someone who is primarily self taught but also finished most of a college CS education, I can understand your frustration. In order to understand one thing you need to learn three other things, and there's no map that leads you from what you know now to what you want to know. Until someone makes that map, or you know enough to make up that map as you read Wikipedia, you'll have to learn things in the order they're taught in school.
So here's what you should do if you want to understand what people are talking about on HN:
1. (Re)learn basic algebra from start to finish. Use Khan Academy. You absolutely need this to understand what a polynomial is.
2. Accept Wikipedia as a source of information. Use a dictionary and other Wikipedia articles to look up terms you don't understand.
3. Related to #2, try to study cognitive biases, critical thinking, and logical fallacies. Studying these concepts will help your brain process information, such as difficult to understand Wikipedia articles. Check out lesswrong.com.
4. Study basic CS. Look for an Introduction to Computer Science course on Coursera or elsewhere.
5. Study algorithms. Take an algorithms course on Coursera or elsewhere.