Speedup is a measure of how much faster a system or process performs when using a particular method or technology compared to a baseline. It is often expressed as a ratio, comparing the time taken to complete a task with and without the improvement. For example, if a task takes 10 hours without optimization and only 5 hours with it, the speedup would be 2x. In computing, speedup is commonly used to evaluate the performance of algorithms or hardware, such as CPUs or GPUs. By analyzing speedup, developers can determine the effectiveness of their optimizations and make informed decisions about resource allocation and system design.