Day 9: CM, Page ix

We have tried to produce a perfect book, but we are imperfect authors. Therefore we solicit help in correcting any mistakes that we've made. A reward of $2.56 will gratefully be paid to the first finder of any error, whether it is mathematical, historical, or typographical.
- Concrete Mathematics, p.ix

Day 9: The last page of the preface. We're almost to the real content of the book! The authors discuss the new font they developed for the book and they thank the various people who helped with the book.

Let's see how many of the people they thanked we can find on wikipedia.

1. Andrei Broder: Now a VP at Yahoo.
2. Ernst Mayr: Not on wikipedia. There is a biologist on wikipedia, but I don't think it is the same person.
3. Andrew Yao: A prominent computer scientist. Won the Knuth Prize and the Turing Award.
4. Frances Yao: Not on wikipedia.
5. Donald Zeilberger: Mathematician who won the Euler Medal (Ron Graham also won one). Here are a couple of funny quotes: "People who believe that applied math is bad math are bad mathematicians" and "Guess what? Programming is even more fun than proving, and, more importantly it gives as much, if not more, insight and understanding". And if you follow the links, the opinion pieces are funny too: "I was just kidding. They are not bad mathematicians, because they are not mathematicians at all. A true mathematician has respect for all parts of mathematics, and does not believe in arbitrary divisions into `Pure', `Applied', `Theoretical',`Practical', `Conceptual', `Computational'. Mathematics is a Web, an infinite dimensional tapestry with everything intertwined.". And "Now, Hear Yea, all you self-righteous defenders of insight and understanding. A good proof may give the appearance of understanding, but IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING REALLY DEEPLY, YOU SHOULD PROGRAM IT."

That's it for the preface. Here's a picture of Donald Zeilberger.