algorithm
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From French algorithme; from the Old French 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: الخوارزمي, "native of Khwarezm.")
[edit] Alternative spellings
- algorism (obsolete)
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
algorithm (plural algorithms)
- 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.
- 1990, Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms: page 1. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999 (23rd printing)
[edit] 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.
[edit] Derived terms
- parallel algorithm
- sequential algorithm
- distributed algorithm
- genetic algorithm
- approximation algorithm
- randomized algorithm
- greedy algorithm
- divide and conquer algorithm
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
well-defined procedure
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