Talk:Omega
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Who assigned a 'numeric value' of 800 to omega? And on what grounds? That's more interesting than the number itself. Otherwise it belongs in the as legend has it file!User:Wetman
This refers to the ancient Greek numeration system, in which α had the value 1, β was 2, λ was 20, and so on. The word 'numeric' in 'numeric value' is linked to the article on Greek numerals, which explains this. -- Dominus
Please help: I am confused as to what the statement "literally, big O" means here. Omicron is listed as the symbol used to describe "Big O notation". What is the "big O" mentioned here literally translated from, and if Omega is literally big O, why isn't it used as the symbol for "Big O notation" instead of Omicron?
- There are two Greek letters that transliterate into the English letter O. One of them is omicron, and the other is omega. The Greek word omega means, literally, big O; you can see mega (big) in there (think megaphone or megalopolis or megabyte or any other word that contains mega). The Greek word omicron means little O; you can see micro (little) in there (think microscope or microbrew or Micro Machines).
- "Big O notation" wasn't invented until much later. The name "big O" in this case refers to the omicron which is used, which looks like a capital letter O. So "big O" here means "capital O", even though technically it's an omicron, not an O.
- Hope this makes things clearer. —Bkell 23:15, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)