3 ms·
It's been a while since I took a math class, but it seems like the logarithmic base is key to understanding what kind of problem you have and the type of soluti
by hiram112 9y ago
It's been a while since I took a math class, but it seems like the logarithmic base is key to understanding what kind of problem you have and the type of solution needed. Comp Sci naturally uses 2, biology and finance tend towards e, etc.
Base 2 problems tend to require clever recursion and dynamic programming to solve, while the natural logarithm often requires calculus.
But then again, I'm not a mathematician - just what I took away from a broad undergrad.
- pandaman 9y agoSure, if you are actually evaluating logarithm the base is very important. However, as I said, an entity designated as "O(log)" is exactly the same for every base so selecting a specific base here makes zero sense. Likewise, O(n^c) is as same as O() of any polynomial of power c, if somebody is writing O(3n^2 + 5n + 366) instead of O(n^2) - you know they don't quite understand what are they doing.