ABSTRACT
Many computations are limited simply by the sheer number of required additions, multiplications, or function evaluations. If floating-point operations are the dominant cost then the computation time is proportional to the number of mathematical operations. Therefore, we should practice counting. For example, a0 + a1x + a2x
2 involves two additions and three multiplications, because the square also requires a multiplication, but the equivalent formula a0 + (a1 + a2x)x involves only two multiplications and two additions.
