> In particular, the level of math in academic computer science research made some progress with Knuth and since then has, in a word, sucked.
Could you elaborate on this? As someone currently pursuing a PhD in theoretical computer science, I often simply tell (nontechnical/nonacademic) people that I study mathematics rather than computer science, so this offhand remark is somewhat at odds with my personal experience.
I believe you mean Max-Cut can be 2 approximated with the trivial random algorithm. Min cut can be solved exactly, and that algorithm would give an expected n^2 approx factor (for min cut).
stupid has the one hell of a hangover.
Either he's trying to make the style mirror the content intentionally, or he just doesn't care much for standard English. I disagree either way.