I investigated the reduced penultimate remainder algorithm in an undergraduate research project under professor John Todd at Caltech in 1961. I remember it today for two reasons. First, I learned what penultimate means. And second, it is the most obscure, impractical algorithm that I know. I suspect none of my readers have ever heard of it.... read more >>

Tuesday, January 8, 2013, would have been George Forsythe's 96th birthday. He passed away in 1972 at the age of 55. A pioneer in the establishment of computer science as an intellectual discipline, he was my Ph.D. thesis advisor, colleague, and friend.... read more >>