Centrally Located Wastebasket

KESTENBAUM: The Art of Computer Programming books are all about the most efficient way for a computer to get something done. The general notion is captured in Knuth’s kitchen, though. He and his wife designed it using a branch of mathematics called graph theory to plan what should go next to what — the toaster, the frig, the stove.

KNUTH: The most important thing in the kitchen was the wastebasket. Everything wanted to be next to the wastebasket. So now our kitchen has a centrally located wastebasket, which you can easily toss things into from any direction.

npr
SPECIAL SERIES
Where Science Meets Art
“Donald Knuth, Founding Artist of Computer Science”
March 14, 2005 12:00 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
DAVID KESTENBAUM
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4532247
0:39–1:09