A method of summarizing text. The sentences in the text are identified first. Then, the terms in each sentence are identified. A matrix is then generated, where the columns represent the sentences and the rows represent the terms. The entries in the matrix are weighted with an exponentially decaying function or a Hidden Markov Model. The Euclidean length of each column is determined. The sentence corresponding to the column having the maximum Euclidean length is selected as a summary sentence. The columns corresponding to the remaining sentences have their matrix entries reduced. If additional summary sentences are desired then return to the step of determining Euclidean length of the columns.