[Splines]

The alt-text is sobering. How many ground-breaking ideas are put into everyday appliances?

[d0mine]

For every 0x5f375a86 we learn about, there are thousands we never see. </quote>

I'd say 0x5f375a86/10000 ~ 160000 (known) / 1 (never see) is a highly optimistic ratio.

[jsnell]

I'm not sure if you're joking, but that hex number isn't a count. It's a reference to a specific instance of an elegant solution to a problem (the fast reciprocal square root function from Quake).

[pjscott]

For those who are curious, Wikipedia has a fascinating explanation, and the C code in question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root

[pnathan]

There is a vast amount of work done in the cubicle-land that never gets outside of the legal walls.