Some of the 12 computational motifs are embarrassingly parallel. Take, for example, what are called Monte Carlo methods, which examine many independent random trials of some physical process to determine a more general result. You can do a lot with this approach. You could, for instance, determine the value of pi. Just compute what happens when you throw darts at a square board. If the darts hit random points on the square, what fraction of them fall within the largest circle you can draw on the board? Calculate that number for enough darts and you'll know the area of the circle. Dividing by the radius squared then gives you a value for pi.