Anathem was exactly my thought when I saw these earlier today!
Except now thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure that's true. In Anathem, the computations are all "inside" the dance. At least, I assume so. The numbers are encoded in positions and so forth, so they are manipulable by the algorithm. Here the numbers are written on the dancers and can't be accessed by the dance.
The dance illustrates the sort but doesn't perform the sort. posted by DU at 8:35 AM on April 13, 2011 [4 favorites]
That didn't clear things up at all! I'm not sure if my confusion comes from my poor grasp of sorting algorithms or my poor grasp of folk dancing. posted by CaptApollo at 9:09 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
I think that this should be a challenge in the next Miss America/Miss Universe/Miss whatever pageant. posted by Kabanos at 9:09 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Let me be the first to say that th length of the YouTube videos in no way represents the efficiency of the search. SelectSort at a 7:07 as n^2 and InsertSort at:4:04 also as an n^2 make me an unhappy camper. The ShellSort at 4:31 is a pretty high bar to set for nlog^2n. I dread the dizzying pace of a BinaryTreeSort!
If you take the time to choreograph the search order, choreograph the speed too! posted by Nanukthedog at 9:12 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Next, please present Hall's Theorem. posted by Wolfdog at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Anathem. Good glory it took me a long time to plow through that fucker. Well worth it, though. This is fascinating. posted by secondtolastresort at 9:20 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Several times in my life, I've thought, "that's the nerdiest thing I'll ever see. I can die now".
For all of those people who didn't read Anathem: The protagonist in the story belonged to a monastery type group that, amongst other things, solved complex mathematical problems by getting in groups and chanting Georgian-type chants about them. posted by sideshow at 9:43 AM on April 13, 2011
... solved complex mathematical problems by getting in groups and chanting ...
I don't know, did they? I read Anathem and enjoyed most of it (until the usual Stephenson ending-a-book catastrophe), and to me it seemed more like they were demonstrating proofs through the chants, rather than actually solving new problems. posted by gurple at 9:54 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Seems a pity to stop at the bubble sort. Needs more sorts. posted by warbaby at 10:42 AM on April 13, 2011
They did heap sort too, but things got messy. posted by kaibutsu at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2011
SelectSort at a 7:07 as n^2 and InsertSort at:4:04 also as an n^2 make me an unhappy camper.
You are going to be even more sad when you examine the graphs of y=x vs y=x2 in the range of 0-1. GOD HIMSELF is against you! posted by DU at 11:17 AM on April 13, 2011
it seemed more like they were demonstrating proofs through the chants, rather than actually solving new problems.
They were chanting to demonstrate recent results that they had derived back home, also by chanting. posted by DU at 11:19 AM on April 13, 2011
This has me fucking stoked and now I think I need to read Anathem.
I guess I'm a bigger dance nerd than SF nerd. But this comes as a shock to me, too. posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:17 PM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tylermoody at 8:34 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]