Editing Big O notation (section)

==== Example {{anchor|Example (Matters of notation)}} ====
Suppose an [[algorithm]] is being developed to operate on a set of {{mvar|n}} elements. Its developers are interested in finding a function {{math|''T''(''n'')}} that will express how long the algorithm will take to run (in some arbitrary measurement of time) in terms of the number of elements in the input set. The algorithm works by first calling a subroutine to sort the elements in the set and then perform its own operations. The sort has a known time complexity of {{math|''O''(''n''<sup>2</sup>)}}, and after the subroutine runs the algorithm must take an additional {{math|55''n''<sup>3</sup> + 2''n'' + 10}} steps before it terminates.  Thus the overall time complexity of the algorithm can be expressed as {{math|1=''T''(''n'') = 55''n''<sup>3</sup> + ''O''(''n''<sup>2</sup>)}}. Here the terms {{math|1=2''n'' + 10}} are subsumed within the faster-growing {{math|''O''(''n''<sup>2</sup>)}}.  Again, this usage disregards some of the formal meaning of the "{{math|1= =}}" symbol, but it does allow one to use the big O notation as a kind of convenient placeholder.