The library sorting problem is used across computer science for organizing far more than just books. A new solution is less than a page-width away from the theoretical ideal. Computer scientists often ...

People have performed many mathematical proofs to show that a quantum computer will vastly outperform traditional computers on a number of algorithms. But the quantum ...

In algorithms, as in life, negativity can be a drag. Consider the problem of finding the shortest path between two points on a graph — a network of nodes connected by links, or edges. Often, these ...

As data science continues to evolve, the k-means clustering algorithm remains a valuable tool to uncover insights and patterns within complex datasets. Understanding the elbow method and the ...

Formulate sequential decision-making problems as deterministic decision processes, Markov chains, and finite Markov decision processes. Explain and apply core reinforcement learning concepts, ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine a town with two widget merchants. Customers prefer cheaper widgets, so the merchants must compete to set the lowest price.