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Math Science

George Dantzig, 1914-2005 298

Posted by timothy 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."
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George Dantzig, 1914-2005 More

George Dantzig, 1914-2005

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  • So sad. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Shky ( 703024 ) <shkyoleary&gmail,com> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:03PM (#12609041) Homepage Journal
    Goodbye, dear friend.
    We hardly knew ye.
    And we certainly had no idea what you were talking about.

    • Re:So sad. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:23PM (#12609453)
      And we certainly had no idea what you were talking about.

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

      KFG

      • From the FWIW department... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Spock the Baptist ( 455355 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @06:27AM (#12610635) Journal
        What I find interesting is that his father Tobias Dantzig. Ol' Tobias was a Russian mathematician, was a student of Henri Poincaré at the Sorbonne and the author of NUMBER: The Language of Science.

        As a physics major, and grad student I bumped into a couple of three fellow students in physics that were down right scary. In all three instances they came from academic families and had *very* strong backgrounds in the subject.

        One of these guys had a dad who was a professor of physics, and a mother who was a professor of mathematics. This dude graduated college Summa Cum Laude (he had a 4.0) in three years with a double major in physics and math. He was a really nice guy, quite athletic, and ---drum roll please-- dated regularly.

        One seriously scary dude...

        One day I said something to one of my physics profs about the dude and my prof told me about his background. My prof who was 'grand old man' of the department point out that having a background such as this fellow had put him at *great* advantage with respect to other students.

        My prof was not putting the fellow down. He's point was the the fellow was without question quite gifted, but those gifts would not have been realized without his background.

        • Same here. (Score:4, Interesting)

          by renehollan ( 138013 ) <[rhollan] [at] [clearwire.net]> on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:19PM (#12612921) Homepage Journal
          While an undergrad, and later in grad school, I knew this short (I am short at 5'7", but he was shorter, about 5'2"), Vietnamese fellow, who spoke in halting English. He was scary brilliant.

          I remember his Masters' Thesis defense well. At one point he made an assertion and proceeded to use it as the basis for a greater proof. He was interrupted by one of his examiners, who noted something to the effect that he hadn't mentioned that his proof was conditional on the "blah" conjecture having been proved.

          He stopped, looked somewhat confused, and then a look of understanding and pride swept across his face. In his halting English he responded, "No. Wait. I prove. Last week. I have preprint of paper. Want see?" (Yes, he did, and it turned out to be correct).

          As I recall, there were two more such incidents during his defense, which lasted about two hours.

          Needless to say, his thesis was accepted as submitted (which is rare: most Masters' thesis are accept "with minor modification" (as in, someone found a typo, or an uncited reference)). What's ironic is that he'd effectively had enough material for three PhDs in that Masters thesis.

          He went on to a doctorate, and possibly a post-doc in Mathematics.

          What's really scary is that he claimed to have an older brother who was much smarter than he was.

      • Re:So sad. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by hey! ( 33014 )
        Reminds me of a story a friend of mine who attended MIT with me in the late 70s early 80s once told me. My friend's grandparents were Eastern European Jews, who emigrated to the UK in the 30s, and in the 60s to the US, finally settling in Florida.

        One day he called his grandmother to see how she was getting on. She mentioned that she couldn't talk long because she was having Mr. Dirac over for tea.

        "Oh," he says without thinking, "like Dirac Delta function."

        "Yes," said his grandmother, "Paul's wife Margit
    • You are all missing a very vital and important point here.

      HE DIED ON FRIDAY THE 13th!

      Dear god, when will the madness end? When will we do something about these evil days? Sure, Ashcroft deals with the evil black cats (or was it calico), but what did he do about the terrorism that is friday the 13th?!

      DEAR GOD, MY FELLOW AMERICANS, WON'T YOU PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

      (And the elderly scientists).

  • Damn! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:04PM (#12609050)
    At least his teachers knew he wasn't cheating.

    R.I.P., Dude.

  • Karma-whoring clarifier (Score:5, Informative)

    by Knights who say 'INT ( 708612 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:05PM (#12609056) Journal
    "Linear programming" (as well as "mathematical programming", "convex programming", etc.) has little to do with computer programming. It's about finding the solution to problems like maximize f(x) subject to restrictions r1(x)=0 .. rn(x)=0, r1(x)>0... rn(x)>0.

    Incidentally, the Simplex method -- unlike differential calculus-based methods for more general problems like the Kuhn-Tucker method -- is quite programmable on a computer, and quite efficient.

    • Re:Karma-whoring clarifier (Score:5, Informative)

      by KeyboardMonkey ( 744594 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:13PM (#12609107)
      Incidentally, the Simplex method -- unlike differential calculus-based methods for more general problems like the Kuhn-Tucker method -- is quite programmable on a computer, and quite efficient.

      The Simplex method can be combined with Kuhn-Tucker conditions and a few small tweaks to solve quadratic problems. This is know as Quadratic Programming (QP).

      Quadratic Programming is used in solving portfolio optimisation problems, a mathematical way to ensure a portfolio of risky assets are diversified.

      • Re:Karma-whoring clarifier (Score:5, Informative)

        by Pseudonym ( 62607 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:32PM (#12609205)
        Quadratic Programming is used in solving portfolio optimisation problems, a mathematical way to ensure a portfolio of risky assets are diversified.

        It's also used in physical simulation to solve the static friction conditions that arise when many objects are in mutual contact.

        • Re:Karma-whoring clarifier (Score:5, Funny)

          by PlacidPundit ( 881182 ) <placidpundit.hotmail@com> on Monday May 23, 2005 @04:12AM (#12610373) Homepage
          It's also used in physical simulation to solve the static friction conditions that arise when many objects are in mutual contact.

          I once used it to make a perfect ham sandwich.

          • Another way to view the Simplex Method is to find the Identity Matrix for a non-square matrix. It's a very clever way of handling Maximum Profit, Minimum Cost, and Maximum Revenue. This type of problem solving is very interesting when using it to applied systems of mechanics. I never knew the man, but his single contribution changed the way complex systems can be simplified for the great un-washed like myself.

        • "It's also used in physical simulation to solve the static friction conditions that arise when many objects are in mutual contact."

          (sigh) Only on Slashdot would this sentence refer to a mathematical method rather than KY Jelly... ( ducks )

      • Re:Karma-whoring clarifier X2 (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Mr.Zong ( 704396 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:42PM (#12609272)
        Quadratic Programming is used in solving portfolio optimisation problems, a mathematical way to ensure a portfolio of risky assets are diversified.

        Well, to backtrack a bit, we can use linear programming for making predictions "pragmatically". Think the lame old spreadsheet neural net :P

        I mean, saying that linear programming has little to do with computing kind of slaps the best program ever made in its face.

        The Spread Sheet (I default to Excel, but insert you fav modern flavor)

        Excel is probably the most powerful, robust, versatile, used for everything and the kitchen sink, program ever created. It's a freaking Swiss army knife, and it's because of Linear Programming.

        We may not directly use it (ever), but Linear Programming has shaped modern computing as we know it.
    • iirc, the form used on computers is usually considered the "modified simplex method" because it involves calculating less of the tableau.

    • Further clarifier (Score:4, Informative)

      by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@ y a hoo.com> on Monday May 23, 2005 @01:48AM (#12609996) Homepage Journal
      Simplex is also known as Operational Research, as early versions were used during military conflicts as a way to produce the optimum use of planes/ships/men in a combat zone, allowing for time spent away from the front-line.


      The military value of Simplex was simple. Resources cost money. Lots of money. You also, generally, don't have that many of them. You desperately need to get them to as many missions as possible in the shortest time (allowing for flight times to and from zones, refuelling, etc), allowing for repairs and replacements.


      You've also got to find the optimum distribution of fuel, weapons, bases, etc. as the further these places are from where they need to be, the greater the risks (travel is dangerous) and the greater the delays.


      Simplex is not "ideal" for a problem of this complexity, but it does a hell of a lot better than guesswork and pencil & paper solutions on the back of an envelope, which is what the British War Office was often reduced to in World War II. They had RADAR, which helped for defence, but offense was substantially more problematic.

      • They had RADAR, which helped for defence, but offense was substantially more problematic.

        Well, too bad they didn't have Patton, or they would not have had problems on offense. *:)
      • Simplex is also known as Operational Research

        While Operations researchers do use this algorithym, Operations Researchers [orsoc.org.uk] would be very upset if you claimed that thier field was just this method.

        O.R. in general is the use of mathemicatical, statistical and simulation methods to model and improve the way that companies work, and make their operations more cost-effective. The transport sector is a major employer e.g. it costs more than a few million and takes years to build a railroad - you'd like to know b

    • Re:Karma-whoring clarifier (Score:4, Informative)

      by rsilva ( 128737 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @07:22AM (#12610759) Homepage
      I heard this from Dantzing himself in a pleneray at the International Synmposium on Mathematical Programming at Lausanne in 1997:

      In that old days, where computers were new toys, the term programmin had the conotation of "planning". If I remember well, Dantzing said that one of the first uses of the Simplex was to help the Air Force to plan its operations during the war.

      As for the non-implementability of gradient based methods in computers. They are as implementable as ODE solvers. This is the domain of floating point numbers, there is no exact implementations of methods. However, there are many good solvers out there solving thousands of real world problems every day. Since I come from academia, I can said some good solvers emerging from universities: the Galahad library [rl.ac.uk], whose web page also provides a list [rl.ac.uk] of other good solver like Minos, Knitro, Snopt, Loqo. There is also TANGO [ime.usp.br] which was written and is mantained by some good friends of mine, and the Open Source (CPL) IPOPT [coin-or.org].

      Things don't stop there. There also many methods non non-smooth problems that employ generalization of the classical concept of gradient and Hessians, like bundle methods from Lemarechal and company, or generalized Newton methos (from Qi and company) and much more.

      Optimization is a very rich field from both practical and theoretical aspects. That's why work with it.
  • Here's a FAQ: http://www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/otc/Guide/faq/linear-p rogramming-faq.html [anl.gov]

    What is most interesting about LP is not that it is just a method of finding the solution to a problem, but that it extends in range over many diverse fields from (obviously) computer programming to fields such as economics and even business planning.

    • Re:For those of you who don't know anything about (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It shouldn't be a surprise if you think about it. Linear programming is the simplest generic form of constrained optimization -- the objective function is linear, all the constraints are linear, and that's it. Once you have figured out how to solve the simple case efficiently, you can use it as a basis to develop solutions for more complicated problems.

      And of course, optimization is found everywhere you want to do something in the cheapest, fastest, or otherwise most effective way possible. Sometimes yo

  • RIP (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ignorant Aardvark ( 632408 ) <cydeweys.gmail@com> on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:11PM (#12609095) Homepage Journal
    It's always sad when a great scientific mind dies. And I recall, just recently, someone was joking about using the simplex method to find the best seat in a theater to see Star Wars.

    • Re:RIP (Score:5, Funny)

      by physicsphairy ( 720718 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:17PM (#12609126)
      And I recall, just recently, someone was joking about using the simplex method to find the best seat in a theater to see Star Wars.

      Well, now we have a motive for the murder, at least.

    • Re:RIP (Score:3, Funny)

      by FuzzyBad-Mofo ( 184327 ) *

      It's always sad when a great scientific mind dies.

      Meh, he'll be back. Just gotta wait 20 or 30 years for the respawn..

    • Re:RIP (Score:4, Informative)

      by fbform ( 723771 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @06:19AM (#12610623)
      someone was joking about using the simplex method to find the best seat in a theater to see Star Wars.

      You and the person who made that comment are both confusing the simplex method in linear programming with the Nelder-Mead downhill simplex method in non-linear programming. Yes, I am an optimization geek.

  • I hope Paul Erdos is right. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FlyByPC ( 841016 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:14PM (#12609110) Homepage
    If so, George has certainly earned a look at The Book. [c2.com] (The one containing all possible mathematical theorems...)

  • LP's (Score:4, Informative)

    by log2.0 ( 674840 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:17PM (#12609129)
    I am actually doing part of my PhD on Linear Programming and the Simplex method. This guy was very smart to come up with what he did!

    The real world application that the simplex method has is HUGE. I think he has made everyones life a little bit better although most people wouldnt realise it.
    • I only studied linear programming at the undergraduate level, but as I understood it simplex implementations have been around for a very long time and have been tweaked to within an inch of their life. Briefly and approximately, are you working an improved simplex implementation, or some new application for linear programming?

  • Unsolvable geek problems. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:18PM (#12609137)
    "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."

    How to get a date?

  • I've been enlightened! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bifurcati ( 699683 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:20PM (#12609146) Homepage
    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!)

    • Yeah, but for the life of me, I cannot understand what's the question behind Goatse!?
      • reminds me of someone's sig - "Microsoft is not the answer, Microsoft is the question. the answer is no."

        not wanting this to be an OS flamefest though, just take the above as a joke or leave it alone.

        the part about handing in unsolvable homework is great, though probably slightly embellished.
    • "...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?..."

      As long as Rush Limbaugh hasn't succeeded in brain-washing all the Americans, some of them may still have a chance to find such tidbits here [npr.org]
    • Pardon my nerdiness, but...

      >Meaning of life=42, Question=???

      In the fourth book, they devise a method of approximating what the Question was. What they come up with was "What do you get when you multiply six by nine".

      Now, while 6 * 9 = 42 (in base 13), they make a point of mentioning how this method will only approximate the true Question.

      The true Question is, of course, "What do you get when you multiply six by seven" and is mentioned by Arthur several books earlier. He immediately dismisses i

  • So what (Score:5, Funny)

    by keziahw ( 869748 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:21PM (#12609158)
    "examples of what were suspected to be unsolvable problems" No big deal, I do unsolvable homework problems all the time.

  • Genius, ha (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:26PM (#12609176)
    "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."

    If he was so smart, why did he make the mistake of thinking it was homework?

    • Re:Genius, ha (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Better question:

      If he's so smart, how come he's dead?

    • Re:Genius, ha (Score:4, Insightful)

      by unixbum ( 720776 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:19AM (#12609676)
      It's a well known fact that intelligence is inversely proportional to common sence.

      • Coincidently, it is also well known that mathematical talents are completely separate from spelling ability. For instance, at the very moment you said "intelligence is inversely proportional to common sence", an immense fleet of microscopic warships was consumed by a small dog in the vicinity of Islington. Fortunately this is nothing to be concerned by, because this sort of this is usually Somebody Else's Problem.

      • Re:Genius, ha (Score:4, Funny)

        by Taladar ( 717494 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @02:47AM (#12610175)
        That would mean there are a lot of insanely intelligent people out there. I guess I am not the only one who doubts that...

    • Re:Genius, ha (Score:2, Insightful)

      by BlockedThreads ( 870266 )
      It is possible that his belief that it was a homework problem gave him the confidence that there was a simple and elegant solution. Without this belief he might never have explored solutions that were "too simple" to work.

  • Yep. He's really gone (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:27PM (#12609181)
    Since neither link indicated that Mr. Dantzig had actually died, here is a link to the San Jose Mercury News article [mercurynews.com] on him.

  • The connection between LP and digital computers (Score:5, Informative)

    by chris huntley ( 810577 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:08PM (#12609385)
    Linear programming was among the first "real" applications of digital computers. I saw Dantzig give a talk about it at an INFORMS conference back in the 1980s.

    It seems that in a visit to Von Neumann in 1947 he described LP and the simplex method a bit. (See http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/chapters/i7802.ht ml [princeton.edu].) It seems that Von Neumann understood everything pretty much immediately, and even derived the dual solution to LP in the first sitting.

    I suppose we all know what Von Neumann did next ...

  • A new way of teaching? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:08PM (#12609388) Journal
    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

    I can't help but think if he ever would have solved those problems had he been taught first that they were unsolvable??

    Schizo Person #1- "Look, there is an elephant in the room"
    Schizo Person #2- "Shhh!!! There is no elephant"
    Schizo Person #1- "But..."
    Schizo Person #2- "No buts, you don't want them to think you're crazy"

    Soon Schizo Person #1 stopps seeing the elephant. It really does not exists to him

    • That's an excellent question. I have always been a bit frustrated in my math classes because they never teach you to think outside the box.

      It's always "Do this if that comes out but do that if this comes out".
      They never, ever, want you to do anything on your own, it's always:

      Teacher: Do this
      Me: But what if we...
      Teacher: Just do it like this, you don't know what your talking about!

      Who knows... maybe my school just sucks.

      • Re:A new way of teaching? (Score:2, Interesting)

        by jd ( 1658 )
        Actually, no, yours is not the only school. I ran up against that kind of mindset many times in England and eventually learned to "dumb down" my thinking for the benefit of the school/University.

        I can remember all kinds of arguments and debates I did have, before then, over such things as NP-Complete problems (as related to network topologies), and the like. Although I did not prove NP-Complete (if I had, you'd be reading ABOUT be, not from me), I believe that this is a solvable problem and that I gained

        • Re:A new way of teaching? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Catullus ( 30857 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @03:46AM (#12610314) Journal
          I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. While there are, of course, many bad teachers, there are also many who encourage creative thinking and reward originality.

          "P=NP?" and many other important problems in theoretical computer science are also perfect examples of problems that could be solved by someone working on their own, without even needing much input from a university. The reason that they haven't been solved so far is that they're hard - not because teachers have been "trampling creative geniuses down into the mud".

          Scientists (usually) do science because they want to discover new, exciting and creative things - not because they want to suppress independent thought.

          I'm also kind of amused by your claim that you'd have achieved as much as George Dantzig if you hadn't given in to all that "social conditioning" thrust upon you.
          • *Scientists (usually) do science because they want to discover new, exciting and creative things - not because they want to suppress independent thought.*

            if you've teached the same course over and over again for 25 years with the same material you probably are pretty much out of any creativity(and most probably using 10 year old transparencies too).

            of course then there's the other end of which someone teaching a course on something so new that they don't have actually anything else than opinions on it(and
        • If you are so smart, learn to undo your conitionning.
      • I don't know if it's just your school, but I know the Calc I and II prof I had at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown was way different. He didn't want to just tell you a method and have you figure it out. First he went through why it was necessary to come up with a method for solving a certain type of problem, and then he worked with us to come up with our own way through it. Sometimes it took 2 or 3 classes before we finally figured out how to actually do it (eventually he would give us hints to
    • This is the same feeling I got when studying Physics 2 with no in-depth lecture and a poorly written book. Einstien's theory of relativity just makes rules about what cannot be, and when you look at things as if they cannot happen, usually they dont.

      I guess it can be summed up by "choose your battles" although that is a fairly passivist theology.

  • Translation (Score:5, Funny)

    by autojive ( 560399 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:10PM (#12609393)
    Translation for today's college students. :-)

    Link [gizoogle.com]

  • Mother (Score:5, Funny)

    by cloudmaster ( 10662 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:16PM (#12609413) Homepage Journal
    Am I the onlyone who read this and initially thought something along the lines of "what does Glenn Danzig have to do with Pi"?

  • Interview ref (Score:3, Informative)

    by Jimmy Breeze ( 568973 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:36PM (#12609500)
    College Mathematics Journal, 1986, 16(4), 292-314

  • No big loss (Score:4, Funny)

    by andy@petdance.com ( 114827 ) <andy@petdance.com> on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:00AM (#12609589) Homepage
    It's hardly a loss.

    None of his solo stuff after he left the Misfits was any good.

    "Muthaaa!" indeed.

  • I really suffered LP (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ArgieNomad ( 850645 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:08AM (#12609622) Homepage
    Well folks, I'm an accountant. You can have all the fun you want about having an accountant here, but that's the way it is. In Argentina, where I come from, that was the best way to land a management position in no time, which I'm still waiting for.

    All that aside, I love technology in all its forms, just in case.

    Studying my 4th year, we've been teached LP, as a way to solve transport route problems, and minimum stock estimates, optimizing resources and stuff, in an assignment called "Operations Research".

    I hope one of my fellow students will read this, but I really doubt an graduate from Facultad de Ciencias Economicas - Universidad Nacional de Cordoba would read /.

    We always dreamed about finding the damn mf that invented the simplex method, but the net was far from being an accesible thing those days, so now that I find out about Dantzig, I'm kinda sad. There was a time when I would have cursed his family and chased him if he was within reach, but now I pay him honors, as one of many bright minds that go by unnoticed for students and developing minds all over the world.

    My respect

  • reminds me a similar story (Score:4, Informative)

    by Muhammar ( 659468 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:12AM (#12609641)
    Kids in a second grade class in Brunswick, Germany were asked to sum all integers from 1 to 100. That should have kept them busy for a while but some 8-year old boy - son of a peasant gardener - said in bored voice: "the result is 5050 of course, 50 times 101 ". His name was Gauss.

  • Leonid Khachiyan (Score:5, Informative)

    by mesterha ( 110796 ) <chris DOT mesterharm AT gmail DOT com> on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:35AM (#12609739) Homepage

    I'm sad to say Leonid Khachiyan [rutgers.edu] also died recently. He proved that linear programming can be solved in polynomial time with the ellipsoid method. I took a class on algorithms from him many years ago at Rutgers. He was an excellent teacher, and he will be missed.

  • Travelling Salesman Problem (Score:3, Interesting)

    by raga ( 12555 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @12:36AM (#12609743)
    Dantzig (with Fulkerson and Johnson) was also the first to publish a TSP algorithm that optimized a 49-city tour. Of course these days, 13k-city solutions are considered par for the course, but back in the 1950's a 49-city tour was a very big deal.

    Another thing I'll remember him for is his interesting exercise in urban design Compact City

    cheers-raga

  • the story (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Statman ( 208736 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @02:13AM (#12610069)
    I remember taking my required Probablistic Models in Operations Research course back in 2003. I wasnt doing too well in the class and miserably failed my first test. The second half the semester was spent on the simplex method. I remember the class before the test our professor, rather than reviewing decided to mention the names of some prominent Mathematicians. George Dantzing was one of them. How I despised him at the time for nearly ruining my academic life! I would always screw up some thing while trying to do the simplex method. The pivot tables etc. Just too much to keep track of in my head I suppose. I studied my ass off to learn the simplex method. One hour before the exam, I had figured it out. I was so happy that I went searching for a program for my ti89 calculator to check my answers. Low and behold victory was mine!! I will never forget that day cause I strugged so much to learn the simplex. Only later did I realize the significance of what this man had done. RIP

  • Wikipedia link (Score:2, Informative)

    by etnoy ( 664495 )
    Wikipedia's article on Dantzig [wikipedia.org]. Still a bit thin, but contributors are of course welcome to add up to it!
  • Not only a great mathematician, but he could really rock out. His song "Mother" will always be a classic.

  • ntpdate (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Piranhaa ( 672441 )
    Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture? Died on May 13th... Today's date: May 23rd
    To me it seems as though there was a 10 day delay. Did it take that long to realize who this guy was?

  • I was wrong. Thought the story was about Huffman (Score:3, Informative)

    by ishmalius ( 153450 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @07:35AM (#12610782)
    For years, I had confused the parable of the prodigal student with that of David Huffman [biography.ms](of the ubiquitous huffman code). But the story is very similar. He said that he never felt famous until he saw his code spelled with a small 'h'.

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