Page "Algorithm" Paragraph 44

But what model should be used for the simulation?

Van Emde Boas observes " even if we base complexity theory on abstract instead of concrete machines, arbitrariness of the choice of a model remains.

It is at this point that the notion of simulation enters ".

When speed is being measured, the instruction set matters.

For example, the subprogram in Euclid's algorithm to compute the remainder would execute much faster if the programmer had a " modulus " ( division ) instruction available rather than just subtraction ( or worse: just Minsky's " decrement ").