Additionally a new sorting algorithm was created to solve the "cake-cutting" problem. This is a problem in which you are determining how to cut a cake fairly amongst multiple people given their different preferences. Think about a holiday party with a fruit cake. Every member of the family has a different preference for how big of a slice and which fruits they want in their slice. This problem tackles the problem of fairness which was previously viewed as unsolvable mathematically. However, recently a researcher was able to solve this problem for a group of anywhere between 3 to 203 people.
The most notable part of this solution is that it shows that previously "unsolvable" problems can actually be solvable. Mathematicians should now be inspired to give those impossible problems a look again. Also, if you haven't already, please watch the data sorting video above it's actually really cool.
Resources:
1. http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/sorting-algorithms-video/
2. http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/cake-cutting-algorithm/
3. http://d2gk7xgygi98cy.cloudfront.net/1296-3-large.jpg
Great post Brian!! I never imagined that there will be more than 15 ways to sort data. This reminds me of using Excel to sort data - you can use basic "Sort" botton in Data tab. Also, you can not only sort text, but also sort numbers, dates, times, or even sort by cell color, font color, or icon. Additionally, you can create VBA to sort information if you have multiple requirements. I start to wonder how Excel sorting are related with the OOP that we just talked about in the class, where all of the codes are hidden.
ReplyDeleteCheck examples of VBA sorting here:http://analysistabs.com/vba/sort-data-with-headers-excel-example-macro-code/