Algorithm Addresses Library Sorting

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Quanta Magazine

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Technology

How to organize books in a way that minimizes how long it takes to place a new book on the shelf

Summary

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78% Informative

New algorithm addresses something called the library sorting problem (more formally, the “list labeling” problem) The challenge is to devise a strategy for organizing books in some kind of sorted order that minimizes how long it takes to place a new book on the shelf.

An inefficient system means significant wait times and major computational expense.

A new algorithm that's blind to the history of the bookshelf can be faster than previous algorithms.

The new algorithm is "history independent" and "non-smooth" and uses randomness to plan for future events.

It's much more likely that any future improvements will affect the upper bound of log log n.

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informal

Language

English

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