This is in respose to David J. Wilkinson

f(n)=n is NOT a constant function



Just to write n in binary you need log(n) space/time

remember, we are not talking about what happens in a C/C++ or some other compiler. We are talkign about theory here. In C you would represent a number as lets say 32 bit int, in that case the function f(n) is constant, assuming n is always less than 2^32, but this is not true for the general case.

This is in respose to David J. Wilkinson
f(n)=n is NOT a constant function

Just to write n in binary you need log(n) space/time
remember, we are not talking about what happens in a C/C++ or some other compiler. We are talkign about theory here. In C you would represent a number as lets say 32 bit int, in that case the function f(n) is constant, assuming n is always less than 2^32, but this is not true for the general case.

This is in respose to David J. Wilkinson
f(n)=n is NOT a constant function

Just to write n in binary you need log(n) space/time
remember, we are not talking about what happens in a C/C++ or some other compiler. We are talkign about theory here. In C you would represent a number as lets say 32 bit int, in that case the function f(n) is constant, assuming n is always less than 2^32, but this is not true for the general case.

Just so no one studying for the test gets confused, f(n) = n is in fact a constant funciton.

In this context constant means that its execution time does not vary based on the imput.

Compare this to a bubble short algorithm where the excecution time would vary accourding to the square of the number of items.

So 10 item would take 100c time units to sort, 1000 items would take 1 million!

If you are thinking about taking the GRE Computer Science test, buying a review book is probably a good idea. However, do not, under any circumstances, buy this one. If you cannot find a better review book, consider buying the latest Michael Crichton novel, or perhaps a collection of The Far Side comics, because either of them would be more useful for test preparation than this book.

I bought this book in preparation for taking my GRE subject test, and was incredibly discouraged after taking some of the sample tests contained within. Most of the questions I was unable to answer, and the answers given in the book often left me scratching my head and wondering what the writers were talking about. I was about to actually cancel my appointment to take the test, when I decided to give the official sample test sent to me by ETS a try. On that test, I was able to score in the 91st percentile. I haven't taken my official test yet (it is tomorrow morning), but, assuming that the real test is not drastically different from the official sample (a real test from 1996), the questions in this book bear no resemblance to any of the questions on the real test.

The professors and editors who collaborated to put this piece of worthless compilations of tests together get a big fat F from me! The so called "detailed" explanations are esoteric and vague. What makes for a good Computer Science GRE test prep book would be one that goes over the various topics and tries to cover the fundamental to intermediate concepts. This book does nothing of that nature as it simply lists four mock tests w/ brief descriptions to each question at the end of the test section. It seems like a few people got together one weekend and lumped together 300 or so questions from their lecture notes and then divided it by four tests to make a book. Completely useless book!