Why couldn't it be (2^2)^9 = 4^9 = 262144 ? | Hacker News

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		mathgladiator on Dec 9, 2019 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: O(n^2), again, now in Windows Management Instrumen... Why couldn't it be (2^2)^9 = 4^9 = 262144 ?

vecter on Dec 10, 2019 | [–]

Why wouldn't he just write O(4^n) then? That'd be like saying "I counted the cats in the room and there were 2+2 cats".

kccqzy on Dec 10, 2019 | [–]

Because exponentiation associate to the right.

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