An intractable problem is one of those sticky types of problems that seem to defy an easy solution. The following series of essays are a slightly humorous look at typical problems which computer analysts regularly face, but which never seem to be properly appreciated by most other people.
Why is this so? Does it have something to do with the eclectic communication skills of a computer scientist or mathematician? [1] Why is it that if, during a lull in a dinner party conversation, a mathematician remarks that:
Conversation ceases. People show signs of terror. The party is over. Yet this equation is essential for our understanding of the normal probability distribution upon which luck and fortune are based. Clearly, good luck has influence over a large part of our daily lives. People should want to talk about it.
Precise language helps us communicate. Someone once said, "In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king", and it is only by communicating our problems to others that we can open our eyes and become wise.
[These essays were originally published in 1995.]
William Miles
Dunham, W. The Mathematical Universe, John Wiley & Sons, 1994, pp. 159-166.
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