Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Tag: slide rule
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Paucity to Plethora: Jevon’s Paradox
Those of us of a certain age (i.e., once able to use a slide rule) remember when the university computer (note the singular) was a scientific and engineering shrine, protected by computer operators and secure doors. We acolytes extended offerings of FORTRAN, ALGOL or COBOL via punched card decks, hoping for the blessings that accrued…
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On Getting The “Right” Answer
The parallel application contains millions of lines of code, combining multiple models of physical, engineering, biological, social and/or economic processes, operating over temporal and spatial scales that span ten orders of magnitude. What is the probability that any execution of this code produces the “right” answer? Does a “right” answer even exist? If so, how…