These numbers aren't very precise, they assume in memory operations and some varying constant factors, but they do give a good starting point in your search for a solution that fits your problem and your data size.

Let's go through an example. Suppose you work for a GPS company and your project is to improve their directions feature. In school you've learned about using Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest path between two nodes in a graph. Knowing these numbers you will understand that it will take seconds to process a graph with millions of edges given that Dijkstra implementations have m log n time complexity (where m is the number of edges and n the number of nodes).

Let's go through an example.
 
Suppose you work for a GPS company and your project is to improve their directions feature. In school you've learned about using Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest path between two nodes in a graph. Knowing these numbers you will understand that it will take seconds to process a graph with millions of edges given that Dijkstra implementations have m log n time complexity (where m is the number of edges and n the number of nodes).

Now you face a few questions: