> Radix sort looks fast, with its O(n)O(n) worst-case time complexity. But, if you're using it to sort binary numbers, then there's a hidden constant factor that's usually 32 or 64 (depending on how many bits your numbers are). That's often way bigger than O(\lg(n))O(lg(n)), meaning radix sort tends to be slow in practice.<p>The constant factor in radix sort isn't the number of bits, it's the number of digits. Since one typically sorts on a computer using 8-bit 'digits', that's a constant factor of 4 or 8 (not 32 or 64).