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Re: Best solution definition

  • To: mathgroup at christensen.cybernetics.net
  • Subject: [mg623] Re: [mg613] Best solution definition
  • From: robert_nachbar at merck.com (Robert Nachbar)
  • Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 08:52:43 -0500

On Mar 28, 11:04am, REECE_D wrote:
>    Frequently
> when a problem is posed on this group, the way the "best" solution is
> defined is by timing alone.  I have always thought one of the appeals about
> MMA is how naturally a solution flows from the typical pencil and paper
> approach.  Frequently this doesn't lead to the fastest solution but
> definitely the easiest to read.

don't forget abour *your* time to figure a faster solution! if the "natural"
representation calulation runs in 1 minute, and it takes you 15 minutes to find
a faster though less elegant solution that runs in 15 seconds, which is better?

unless you're going to repeatedly reuse your result/code, my feeling is that
the simpler (and probably more elegant) solution is better.

bob



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