The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. One July afternoon in 2024, Ryan Williams set out to prove himself wrong. Two months had passed since he’d hit upon a startling ...

One July afternoon in 2024, Ryan Williams set out to prove himself wrong. Two months had passed since he’d hit upon a startling discovery about the relationship between time and memory in computing.

Sorting algorithms are the backbone of efficient computing, enabling fast searches, organized data, and optimized performance. Whether it’s bubble sort, merge sort, or radix sort, each works best ...