Why is processing a sorted array faster than processing an unsorted array?

Click on the "past" link to see previous submissions. A few have comments, most do not.

The only substantial discussion I can find is from 9 years ago, here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4637196

There are a few more comments here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5960299