The Fastest Way to Alphabetize Books or Other Large Collections of Data

Chand John explains the fastest way to alphabetize books or other large collections of data in a TED-Ed lesson about the QuickSort method and other sorting techniques. The lesson uses animation and a hypothetical library emergency to demonstrate different ways of sorting data and comparing them.

You work at the college library. You’re in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they’re all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How can you sort the books quickly? Chand John shows how, shedding light on how algorithms help librarians and search engines speedily sort information.