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Knuth Celebrates 30 Years of Christmas Lectures at 88

12/26/2025

Summary

Story summary

Donald Knuth, Stanford University professor emeritus, delivered his annual Christmas lecture at Stanford, marking over 30 years of the tradition.
Approaching his 88th birthday, he discussed the Knight's Tours problem and whether a knight can cover all chessboard cells without revisiting any.
He reported that there are over 13 trillion possible Knight's Tours solutions.
He highlighted the beauty of mathematics and his ongoing work on The Art of Computer Programming.

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Story summary

Donald Knuth, Stanford University professor emeritus, delivered his annual Christmas lecture at Stanford, marking over 30 years of the tradition.
Approaching his 88th birthday, he discussed the Knight's Tours problem and whether a knight can cover all chessboard cells without revisiting any.
He reported that there are over 13 trillion possible Knight's Tours solutions.
He highlighted the beauty of mathematics and his ongoing work on The Art of Computer Programming.