Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

George Dantzig, 1914-2005

Posted by timothy on from the life-well-lived dept.

Markus Registrada writes "George Dantzig, the inventor of the Simplex method for solving Linear Programming problems, died on May 13. He was also the now-legendary student who turned in solutions for what he had taken to be a homework assignment, only to find out they had been posted as examples of what were suspected to be unsolvable problems."

3 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. I've been enlightened! by Bifurcati · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now this is why I read Slashdot - where else can you get such a diverse range of people, and pick up wonderful little tidbits like the true story behind that wonderful legend about solving unsolved problems? Sure, it's available on Snopes for you to find if you know what you're looking for, but asking the right question is often a lot harder than the answer, as best illustrated bythe Hitch Hiker's guide: Meaning of life=42, Question=???. (Hey, perhaps if they'd put that up on the board, he might have been able to solve that as well!)

    --

    Physicist, consultant, science communicator
  2. Re:So sad. by kfg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And we certainly had no idea what you were talking about.

    Yes, that is the sad part. Not for him, mind you.

    KFG

  3. Re:Unsolvable geek problems. by halleluja · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How to get a date?

    Just ask.