Actually, it is not. Although many people use e**x to define "exponential", this is not correct.
A correct definition of "exponential growth" specifies that the rate of growth increases as time progresses or in this case, as the size of the input increases. The mathematical expression "N LOG ( N)" does exhibit exponential growth, as shown below: N log(N) n*log(N) 1 0 0 10 2.3026 23.026 100 4.6052 460.52 1,000 6.9078 6,907.8 10,000 9.2104 92,104 As you can see, the rate of growth of the mathematical expression "N log (N)" is clearly shows "exponential" characteristics. It is not what many consider exponential (i.e., e**x), but it is mathematically correct. John P. Baker -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: 03/09/2008 6:47 PM To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU Subject: Re: how fast can I sort on mainframe (using DFSORT)? ITYM "misusing". This is a technical discussion group. Humpty Dumpty imprecisions[1] have no place here. [1] http://sundials.org/about/humpty.htm -- gil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
