Efficient isn't always better

05 Nov 2019

In 2003, computer scientist Jeffry Shallit wanted to to find out what coin, if put into circulation, would minimize the number of coins required to make change.

The answer: an eighteen cent piece.1


  1. Christian, Brian, and Tom Griffiths. Algorithms To Live By: The Computer Science Of Human Decisions. Henry Holt and Co, 2016.