Posted by
Robert Holmes on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Top-ten-algorithms-tp519062.html
Supporting Owen's contention, it looks like the 'science' part of computer
science stopped in the 1960s - only two of the top ten algorithms are dated
after 1965.
Robert
>From
http://www.cecm.sfu.ca/personal/jborwein/algorithms.htmlAlgorithms for the Ages
"Great algorithms are the poetry of computation," says Francis Sullivan of
the Institute for Defense Analyses' Center for Computing Sciences in Bowie,
Maryland. He and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge
National Laboratory have put together a sampling that might have made Robert
Frost beam with pride--had the poet been a computer jock. Their list of 10
algorithms having "the greatest influence on the development and practice of
science and engineering in the 20th century" appears in the January/February
issue of Computing in Science & Engineering. If you use a computer, some of
these algorithms are no doubt crunching your data as you read this. The drum
roll, please:
1. 1946: The Metropolis Algorithm for Monte Carlo. Through the use of
random processes, this algorithm offers an efficient way to stumble toward
answers to problems that are too complicated to solve exactly.
2. 1947: Simplex Method for Linear Programming. An elegant solution to
a common problem in planning and decision-making.
3. 1950: Krylov Subspace Iteration Method. A technique for rapidly
solving the linear equations that abound in scientific computation.
4. 1951: The Decompositional Approach to Matrix Computations. A suite
of techniques for numerical linear algebra.
5. 1957: The Fortran Optimizing Compiler. Turns high-level code into
efficient computer-readable code.
6. 1959: QR Algorithm for Computing Eigenvalues. Another crucial matrix
operation made swift and practical.
7. 1962: Quicksort Algorithms for Sorting. For the efficient handling
of large databases.
8. 1965: Fast Fourier Transform. Perhaps the most ubiquitous algorithm
in use today, it breaks down waveforms (like sound) into periodic
components.
9. 1977: Integer Relation Detection. A fast method for spotting simple
equations satisfied by collections of seemingly unrelated numbers.
10. 1987: Fast Multipole Method. A breakthrough in dealing with the
complexity of n-body calculations, applied in problems ranging from
celestial mechanics to protein folding.
>From Random Samples, Science page 799, February 4, 2000.
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