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Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms

Donald Knuth · 2 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms" by Donald Knuth.
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Amazon Summary
The bible of all fundamental algorithms and the work that taught many of today's software developers most of what they know about computer programming. – Byte, September 1995 I can't begin to tell you how many pleasurable hours of study and recreation they have afforded me! I have pored over them in cars, restaurants, at work, at home... and even at a Little League game when my son wasn't in the line-up. –Charles Long If you think you're a really good programmer... read [Knuth's] Art of Computer Programming... You should definitely send me a resume if you can read the whole thing. –Bill Gates It's always a pleasure when a problem is hard enough that you have to get the Knuths off the shelf. I find that merely opening one has a very useful terrorizing effect on computers. –Jonathan Laventhol The second volume offers a complete introduction to the field of seminumerical algorithms, with separate chapters on random numbers and arithmetic. The book summarizes the major paradigms and basic theory of such algorithms, thereby providing a comprehensive interface between computer programming and numerical analysis. Particularly noteworthy in this third edition is Knuth's new treatment of random number generators, and his discussion of calculations with formal power series. Ebook (PDF version) produced by Mathematical Sciences Publishers (MSP), http://msp.org
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For the really ambitious, there's always Knuth's treatment in TAoCP volume 2: Semi-Numerical Algorithms. It runs about fifty pages, covers such interesting topics as the statistical distribution of floating point numbers in order to determine average running time, and of course, includes exercises like [42] Make further tests of floating point addition and subtraction, to confirm or improve on the accuracy of Tables 1 and 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volume-Seminu...

On the more social side, Dr. Chuck's interview with William Kahan on the history of the IEEE standard is a good read:

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~wkahan/ieee754status/754story.ht...

Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, vol 2 [1], not surprisingly, gives a thorough discussion of the balanced ternary system.

The solution for a nice brainteaser can be found quickly once one thinks about balanced trinary, here it is: "Using a balance scale, what is the minimum number of wheights needed to weigh any whole number of grams up to 40g?"

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Volume-Seminu...

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