<![CDATA[Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work".]]>Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work".

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/60f235e4-30e7-48df-873a-682248767916/now-more-than-ever-i-find-myself-contemplating-the-last-two-sentences-from-this-page-of-acton-s-numerical-methods-that-usually-work-.RSS for NodeMon, 25 May 2026 10:39:29 GMTSat, 02 May 2026 07:57:10 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Thu, 21 May 2026 13:09:58 GMT]]>It has been a good long while since I looked at Tukey, but what I took away from his body of work back then (setting the FFT algorithm aside) is that even the simplest tools can be used to reveal a lot about data (which he then amply illustrated in that book you display, e.g. stem-leaf plots). Just like Tufte, he does not strike me as the sort who'd surrender his capability to think and make sense of things to the computer.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116612726714272482https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116612726714272482Thu, 21 May 2026 13:09:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Thu, 21 May 2026 12:59:31 GMT]]>@tpfto

maybe I am totally wrong, but wasn't this once very influential book sort of about using the computer as a partial substitute for thought ?
https://www.amazon.com/Exploratory-Data-Analysis-John-Tukey/dp/0201076160

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/failedLyndonLaRouchite/statuses/116612685580526525https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mas.to/users/failedLyndonLaRouchite/statuses/116612685580526525Thu, 21 May 2026 12:59:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Thu, 21 May 2026 12:24:19 GMT]]>@kbob I don't know how appealing it would be to non-specialists, but let me just say that it's one of the books I read because I really like reading it (e.g. I'd read it before bedtime), as opposed to just needing to refer to it for an application (though I've done that for this book, too).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116612547152475366https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116612547152475366Thu, 21 May 2026 12:24:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Thu, 21 May 2026 12:21:27 GMT]]>@tpfto Interesting book, thanks. I found it digitized on archive.org.

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Numerical methods that work : Acton, Forman S : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

xx, 549 p. : 23 cm

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Internet Archive (archive.org)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/kbob/statuses/116612535898215848https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaos.social/users/kbob/statuses/116612535898215848Thu, 21 May 2026 12:21:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Thu, 21 May 2026 01:38:38 GMT]]>@tpfto my take with this kind of thing is "the author has done some serious thinking about these issues, so if I'm going to disagree with them, I'd better have a good reason".

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/nxskok/statuses/116610008264635739https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/nxskok/statuses/116610008264635739Thu, 21 May 2026 01:38:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Wed, 20 May 2026 13:11:33 GMT]]>@tpfto It's a fantastic book

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/arclight/statuses/116607070633378135https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://oldbytes.space/users/arclight/statuses/116607070633378135Wed, 20 May 2026 13:11:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Wed, 20 May 2026 04:51:13 GMT]]>@nxskok I find that Acton is a little like Velvel Kahan (he of IEEE floating point standard fame) or Edsger Dijkstra: you don't always have to agree with what they wrote, but you should at least give them some serious thought.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116605103223036649https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116605103223036649Wed, 20 May 2026 04:51:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Wed, 20 May 2026 04:48:00 GMT]]>@tpfto This is, as a whole, a pleasantly opinionated book.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/nxskok/statuses/116605090561826015https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cupoftea.social/users/nxskok/statuses/116605090561826015Wed, 20 May 2026 04:48:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:39:31 GMT]]>@tpfto
Bold, that. Ya gotta love it.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116598451163759063https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116598451163759063Tue, 19 May 2026 00:39:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:24:21 GMT]]>@AmenZwa I am sure Acton knew what he was doing when he picked that book title. (In fact, in the original edition of the book, the title was ostensibly just "Numerical Methods That Work", and the "Usually" was in a faded shade of gray, like he was trying to sneak it in.)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116598391508512705https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/tpfto/statuses/116598391508512705Tue, 19 May 2026 00:24:21 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Now, more than ever, I find myself contemplating the last two sentences from this page of Acton's "Numerical Methods that (usually) Work". on Tue, 19 May 2026 00:21:24 GMT]]>@tpfto
😍😍😍
I hadn’t seen it. Thanks so much mate. Love it!

And that book title….🀣

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116598379906938696https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/AmenZwa/statuses/116598379906938696Tue, 19 May 2026 00:21:24 GMT