Thanks for your comment. I must admit that my lack of mathematical background makes your clarification difficult to understand. I've not heard the term "order of a polynomial". If you wrote up a post and emailed me at justin@abrah.ms explaining the concept, I'd happily link it in this article. :)
I'm self taught too. Pick up Knuths books and start going through them, stop and learn the math if you don't understand it. His first book in particular begins with some mathematical foundations that will dramatically change how you reason about your programs.
This stuff isn't scary. It's thick but learnable and you can even develop an appreciation for its elegance.
