The Most Underrated Algorithm

Veritasium · 10.8M views · 2022-11-03 · 26:33

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Overview

Veritasium tells the story of the Fast Fourier Transform, from its use in detecting nuclear tests to Cold War politics, and how it could have changed the arms race. It includes a short, intuitive explanation of what the Fourier transform does.

On Hacker News

HN points people to it as the explanation that finally made Fourier transforms and the FFT click, with a good historical story.

Recommended by 5 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2022–2024

Topics

Information theory & signal processing Algorithms & data structures Scientific method & science communication

What people said

kippinitreal · 2023-01 · Strong recommendation
That video did the same for me. I also like the reducible video for Fast Fourier Transforms as well as the Veratasium piece that shares some fun history. Reducible - FFTs the most ingenious algorithm ever [LINK] Veritasium - The Most Important Algorithm of All Time [VIDEO]
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kevlened · 2022-11 · Strong recommendation
The 2-minute brute-force explanation of Fourier transforms in a recent Veritasium video was my "aha!" moment. [VIDEO]
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ourmandave · 2023-01 · Recommendation
Veritasium has an explainer of the Fast Fourier Transform on youtube. From how it's used and an interest history. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Veritasium, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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