Galai had, of course, all the advantages of the academic. He was investigating hypothetical trading strategies using past price data supplied on punched cards by the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He had available to him programming assistance and the University of Chicago's powerful computers. Could the Black-Scholes-Merton model be used not in these favorable circumstances but in the bodily hubbub of a trading floor?

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 711