Looking for a good source

I'm working on homework assignments for my C++ class, and one major part of many assignments is Big-O notation. My problem is that I just don't get it. Are there any really good sources that gives a "for dummies" approach to Big-O notation?

I think the one on this very site is quiet good. I actually understood most of it from here, and them just filled in the blanks from a few google searches.

http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial...ficiency1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big-O ?

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My problem is that I just don't get it.

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The general idea is that some things get waaaay more complicated as the number of "things" increases.

For example, if you want to sort a list of names into alphabetical order - It might take more than twice as long to sort 20 names as it does to sort 10 names... How much longer? Big-O will tell you.

That's just the general idea to get you started... If you turn that in for your homework, you might get a 'D'... if you are lucky.

That's a helpful explanation actually. Thank you for that.

I want to make one thing clear. My homework isn't "What is Big O?" Rather it is "using Big O, determine the complexity of C++ function T." I'm not looking for anyone to do function T for me. I just want to know how to do Big O. I hope that helps everyone know where I'm coming from.

Hypothetical situation:
Let's say I have a vector of 20 random integers (non-sorted) and I need to perform a selection sort on it. How would a programmer go from this given information, and do a Big O analysis?

Well first he would need to look at the source code itself, or at least have an idea of how a selection sort is performed. Nothing like having the actual code in front of him or some equivalent pseudo-code to better visualize the algorithm.

Then he just follows the steps delineated on the link I provided you with earlier.