The answer
It is a slower-growing term in a mathematical equation. For example, in O(N^2 + N), the N is non-dominant because as numbers get huge, N^2 completely overshadows it.
Why We Drop Constants in Big O Notation
What is a non-dominant term?
More FAQs in Why We Drop Constants in Big O Notation
Because Big O describes the overarching growth trend as data scales to infinity. A multiplier of 2 does not change the fact that the growth is linear.
In real-world milliseconds, O(N) is twice as fast. But in Big O academic notation, they belong to the exact same 'Linear' classification bucket.
Mathematically it is O(3N), but following Big O rules, we drop the constant 3, making the final official time complexity O(N).
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