IBM’s Watson Takes One Small Step for a Computer

Instantly sorting 15 trillion memory bytes to find the right answer to a “Jeopardy” question: Elementary, my dear Watson. Or so an IBM supercomputer named “Watson” set out to prove Monday, tackling trivia with the popular television game show’s all-time human champs, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. “A four-letter word for the iron fitting on the hoof of a horse or a card-dealing box in a casino,” was a $400 answer host Alex Trebek gave the trio. “What is a shoe?” Watson answered with a question in “Jeopardy’s” famous format.