As was emphasized in chapter 6, the notion of "implied volatility" takes a multiplicity of market prices (the prices of puts and calls with different expiry dates and different strike prices, and the prices of more complicated options as well) and reduces them to a single number or small set of numbers. Options market participants may no longer perform Black-Scholes pricing, but their constant invocation of "implied volatility" -a notion that did not exist before the work of Black, Scholes, and Merton shows that work's permanent imprint on their culture.

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 1131