Faster-Than-Fast Fourier Transform

First time accepted submitter CanEHdian writes "MIT news reports on research done resulting in a Faster-than-fast Fourier Transform algorithm. 'At the Association for Computing Machinery's Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA) this week, a group of MIT researchers will present a new algorithm that, in a large range of practically important cases, improves on the fast Fourier transform. Under some circumstances, the improvement can be dramatic — a tenfold increase in speed. The new algorithm could be particularly useful for image compression, enabling, say, smartphones to wirelessly transmit large video files without draining their batteries or consuming their monthly bandwidth allotments.'"

Comments

Doesn't sound THAT useful

[tempmpi]

It doesn't improve the regular FFT but only sparse variants. Image or Audio compression nearly always uses the regular non-sparse FFT.

Re:Doesn't sound THAT useful

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm only awake due to a bathroom break, so I may not be the most clear-minded at the moment, but subtracting coefficients from the bins seems like a pretty obvious permutation of algorithmic techniques to try, and having 2/3 probability of a correct FT analysis doesn't seem like an inspiring trade-off (skimmed... perhaps they explain ways to improve this?) Is this anything more than a highly specialized, not particularly practical version of the algorithm? I'm used to working on algorithms which are much more general-case (e.g., new solutions for SCALAPACK problems).