This code optimizes prefomance as a side effect. USE CAREFULY
The two calls have different meanings that have nothing to do with performance; the fact that it speeds up the execution time is (or might be) just a side effect. You should understand what each of them does and not blindly include them in every program because they look like an optimization.
ios_base::sync_with_stdio(false);
This disables the synchronization between the C and C++ standard streams. By default, all standard streams are synchronized, which in practice allows you to mix C- and C++-style I/O and get sensible and expected results. If you disable the synchronization, then C++ streams are allowed to have their own independent buffers, which makes mixing C- and C++-style I/O an adventure.
Also keep in mind that synchronized C++ streams are thread-safe (output from different threads may interleave, but you get no data races).