This is my sentence:
As a result, calculating the similarities between items should require fewer calculations than between users.
What I mean is:
As a result, calculating the similarities between items should require fewer calculations than calculating the similarities between users.
Is the first sentence correct? Does it have the same meaning as the second sentence?
Your shorter version is OK, I suppose, but you risk making your readers backtrack to make sure that they have understood it correctly.
As for your longer version, I appreciate your unwillingness to have "calculating", "calculations", and "calculating" again all in one sentence. I suggest using the word "steps" instead of "calculations":
As a result, calculating the similarities between items should require fewer steps than calculating the similarities between users.
You could approach this kind of problem by beginning the sentence differently.
Since items are simpler than users, calculating similarities between items takes fewer steps.
Calculating similarity takes fewer steps with items than with users, owing to the greater complexity of the latter.
The number of steps required to calculate similarity between objects is greater with users than with items, as items have a simpler structure.
