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Buried deep

In my Algorithms reading, the discussion of shortest paths is introduced by the problem of finding a route from Chicago to Boston. Eventually, this sentence crops up (links mine, of course):

Our goal is to find the shortest path from a given intersection in Chicago (say, Clark St. and Addison Ave.) to a given intersection in Boston (say, Brookline Ave. and Yawkey Way).

Anyone else notice anything in particular about those intersections?

Now Playing: No Promises by Icehouse

Posted by pjm on October 6, 2005 11:23 AM |

Comments

Someone likes old-school ball parks?

Posted by: kmsqrd | October 6, 2005 12:48 PM

The oldest… and a few other characteristics as well. (Had they picked another Chicago field, it would’ve been the answer to the question, “Where are the Sox playing this week?”)

Posted by: pjm | October 6, 2005 1:50 PM

Depending on when the book was published, they could have introduced another level of complexity by adding a stop at Michigan and Trumbull….

Posted by: ralph | October 6, 2005 4:00 PM

Dude, THIS is how text book authors have fun. Like how my Dad’s buddy incorporated the fake name my Dad used to give out to impress girls in bars into the law textbook he wrote. They both think it’s hilarious to this day…

Posted by: ms. F | October 6, 2005 9:07 PM

Oh, I’m used to textbook-author jokes, you can bet. (See http://www.devbio.com/keyword.php?kw=humor for example.) My favorite was the CD which went with the Invertebrates textbook. If you looked closely among the Porifera, you might find a specimen labeled (no doubt I’ve mangled the Latin) Rectibracii Robertii …

…Sponge-Bob Squarepants.

Posted by: pjm | October 8, 2005 8:15 PM

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