[schtog]

Monte Carlo methods is a family of algorithms no?

I still haven't groked exactly what is so special about them. Incredibly useful, sure, but aren't they just simulations? Ie, isn't it something anyone would have come up with(sorry if I'm just ignorant here)?

[shrughes]

They are the kind of obvious thing that many people would invent for themselves, yes. But the question was about algorithms that changed the world, not about non-obvious algorithms.

I would argue that in the case of Monte Carlo methods, computers are what deserve credit (for making obvious methods like Monte Carlo affordable) rather than the methods themselves.