Google’s PageRank algorithm, then, was revolutionary. Combined with a relatively simple concept of “ nGrams ” to help establish relevancy, Google found a winning formula.

One familiar algorithm for this is Google's PageRank, which is (obviously) computationally expensive; it is impossible with current technology to extend it to the whole Web.

Google still uses something similar to PageRank, but the algorithm is undoubtedly much more complex and intelligent. Back to the Washington State discovery.

This simplification permits PageRank to work about 50 per cent faster. These results are not fully correct, but they are close and can then be refined by the original PageRank algorithm.

Google’s PageRank algorithm was developed in 1998. But a project to trace the history of such algorithms reveals an example from the 1940s.

1. Google's PageRank algorithm is a mathematical recipe that uses the structure of the links between web pages to assign a score to each page that reflects its importance. In effect, each link ...