Did a single code update yield a 40,83imillion percent improvement?
In this Stand-up Maths presentation, Matt Parker explores the concept of the reverse-frequency alphabet. The video examines how reordering characters based on their frequency in words can lead to staggering, albeit mathematically exaggerated, performance gains.
The video investigates the 'reverse-frequency alphabet'—a specific sequence of characters: QXJZVFWBKGPMHDCYTLNUROISEA. This arrangement is based on the frequency of letters within words, counting each word only once, rather than measuring the frequency of word usage.
While the presenter initially cited a massive percentage increase, the true mathematical improvement was a multiple of 408,322,778. The discussion highlights the complexities of algorithmic efficiency and the precision required when calculating such astronomical scales of optimization.
Source: Someone improved my code by 40,832,277,770%
