Meanings
plural complexity functions
- computingA function that counts the number of distinct factors (substrings of consecutive symbols) in a string of symbols;
It follows that #92;bullet The length function l#58;A#42;#92;longrightarrow#92;mathcalN is a complexity function on A#42;.
2002, A. V. Borovnik, A. G. Myasnikov, V. Shpilrain, “Measuring Sets in Infinite Groups”, in Robert H. Gilman, Alexei G. Myasnikov, Vladimir Shpilrain, editors, Computational and Statistical Group Theory, American Mathematical Society, page 271 more example
2003, Julien Cassaigne, Constructing Infinite Words of Intermediate Complexity, Masami Ito, Masafumi Toyama (editors), Developments in Language Theory: 6th International Conference, 6th International Conference, DLT 2002, Revised Papers, Springer, LNCS 2450, page 173, We present two constructions of infinite words with a complexity function that grows faster than any polynomial, but slower than any exponential.
- A function that counts the number of distinct factors (substrings of consecutive symbols) in a string of symbols; (of a formal language) a function that counts the number of words of a given length.
- computinga function that counts the number of words of a given length.
- computingA function representing the computational complexity an algorithm.
2003, Roberto Segala, Verification of Randomized Distributed Algorithms, Ed Brinksma, Holger Hermanns, Joost-Pieter Katoen (editors), Lectures on Formal Methods and Performance Analysis, Springer, LNCS 2090, page 253, Let ϕ be a complexity function.
2 more examples
A complexity function need not have a quadratic term to be in O(n²). It need only eventually lie beneath some pure quadratic function on a graph. Therefore, any logarithmic or linear complexity function is in O(n²).
2011, Richard Neapolitan, Kumarss Naimipour, Foundations of Algorithms, 4th edition, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, page 31Hence, the worst case time complexity function of Floyd's algorithm is O(n³).
2014, R. Panneerselvam, Research Methodology, 2nd edition, PHI Learning, page 512
Translations
German Komplexitätsfunktion, Komplexitätsfunktion
- Komplexitätsfunktionfunction that counts distinct words of a given length in a language
- Komplexitätsfunktionfunction that represents the computational complexity of an algorithm
- Komplexitätsfunktionfunction that counts distinct factors of a string
Cite this entry
complexity function. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complexity%20function
“complexity function.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complexity%20function. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “complexity function,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complexity%20function.
Source: complexity function on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.