Algorithm
WordNet

noun


(1)   A precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem
WiktionaryText

Etymology


From algorithme; from the algorisme ("the Arabic numeral system"), a modification likely due to a mistaken connection with Greek ἀριθμός (number); from Medieval Latin algorismus, a transliteration of the name of the Islamic Persian mathematician al-Khwārizmī (Arabic: , "native of Khwarezm.")

Noun



  1. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
    • 1990, Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms: page 1. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999 (23rd printing)
      Informally, an algorithm is any well-defined computational procedure that takes some value, or set of values, as input and produces some value, or set of values, as output. An algorithm is thus a sequence of computational steps that transform the input into the output.

Usage notes

  • Though some technical definitions require that an algorithm always terminate in a finite number of steps, this distinction is not generally observed in practice.

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