Thanks for the link. The author is an editor of the Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics, which also contains very high quality writing and a book I recommend to anyone interested in mathematics and engineering.
I agree that this is a flawed article: the ads are irritating, the grammar is flawed, and calling boolean algebra an algorithm is inaccurate.
But looking past the flaws, I wouldn't describe it as vapid. I see it as more of a very high level survey of some truly important algorithms targeted at general population and students. This kind of writing can be an incredibly important source of inspiration for young people.
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Q and R stand for matrices.
QR Code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code
QR stands for Quick Response
The QR Code in the article encodes the string "Algorithm For Computing Eigenvalues" and is meant as a pun/joke, I suppose.
For a more modern and nuanced list, check out the "top 10 algorithms with the greatest influence on applied mathematics in the 20th century"
http://blog.press.princeton.edu/2016/04/27/nicholas-j-higham...
I agree that this is a flawed article: the ads are irritating, the grammar is flawed, and calling boolean algebra an algorithm is inaccurate.
But looking past the flaws, I wouldn't describe it as vapid. I see it as more of a very high level survey of some truly important algorithms targeted at general population and students. This kind of writing can be an incredibly important source of inspiration for young people.