Algorithmic complexity may refer to:
* In
algorithmic information theory
Algorithmic information theory (AIT) is a branch of theoretical computer science that concerns itself with the relationship between computation and information of computably generated objects (as opposed to stochastically generated), such as st ...
, the complexity of a particular string in terms of all algorithms that generate it.
**
Solomonoff–Kolmogorov–Chaitin complexity, the most widely used such measure.
* In
computational complexity theory
In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and relating these classes to each other. A computational problem is a task solved by ...
, although it would be a non-formal usage of the term, the time/space complexity of a particular problem in terms of all algorithms that solve it with computational resources (i.e., time or space) bounded by a function of the input's size.
** Or it may refer to the time/space complexity of a particular algorithm with respect to solving a particular problem (as above), which is a notion commonly found in
analysis of algorithms
In computer science, the analysis of algorithms is the process of finding the computational complexity of algorithms—the amount of time, storage, or other resources needed to execute them. Usually, this involves determining a function that re ...
.
**
Time complexity
In computer science, the time complexity is the computational complexity that describes the amount of computer time it takes to run an algorithm. Time complexity is commonly estimated by counting the number of elementary operations performed by ...
is the amount of computer time it takes to run an algorithm.
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