I am having trouble knowing how to find out whether a given logarithmic function, |f(x)|, is an element of the set of all functions less than or equal to C * |g(x)| where g(x) is a non-logarithmic function for some C and k such that x > k.
For example:
Say I am trying to prove that:
|N log N| <= C * |N^3| for some C and k where x > k
A way to establish whether this statement is true would be to solve for C. If C is not a function of N, then the statement holds true. To better be able to divide f(x) by g(x) to get a useful value would be to increase f(x). If f'(x) is still less than C * g(x) then we can still divide it by g(x) to get a useful value for C that can help prove whether the initial statement is true.
My struggle is what do I do if I am comparing a logarithmic function to a non-logarithmic function? It seems like it would be extremely difficult to increase N log N in to something that can be divided by N^3. Is there a way to do this? I have been doing research on logarithms and have not, so far, been able to find a way to do this.
Answer
You could use limits to prove this, or you could prove it algebraically as follows:
For all $n \ge 1$,
$$n \le e^n$$
$$ \log n \le \log e^n$$
$$ \log n \le n$$
$$ n \cdot \log n \le n \cdot n^2$$
$$ n \log n \le n^3$$
Hence,
$$n \log n = O(n^3)$$
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