CPU cycles isn't right either - this article is about theoretical CS not about a real machine (squared cycles is meaningless too). It seems the author is saying

CPU cycles isn't right either - this article is about theoretical CS not about a real machine (squared cycles is meaningless too). It seems the author is saying the algorithm running time is O(n^2) where n is precision. This is approximately cn^2 where c is a constant. Without knowing c we cannot say what squaring the running time precisely means.