algorithm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/
ipa: [ˈæɫɡəɹɪðm̩]
note: Indic
ipa: /əlˈɡɔrɪd̪ʱm̩/
note: Indic
ipa: /əlɡɵˈrɪd̪ʱm̩/
Forms: form: algorithms
form: algorism
form: augrim
Etymology: Etymology tree
Arabic ال (al-)
Old Persian 𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐏁 (u-v-a-r-z-mi-i-š)
Classical Persian خْوَارَزْم (xwārazm)bor.
Arabic خَوَارِزْم (ḵawārizm)
Arabic ـِيّ (-iyy)
Arabic خَوَارِزْمِيّ (ḵawārizmiyy)
Arabic الخَوَارِزْمِيّ (al-ḵawārizmiyy)bor.
Medieval Latin algorismusbor.
Anglo-Norman algorismebor.
Middle English algorisme
English algorism
Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti
Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-éyti
Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey-der.
Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós)bor.
English arithmo-influ.
English algorithm
From Middle English algorisme, augrym, from Anglo-Norman algorisme, augrim, from Medieval Latin algorismus, from Arabic الخَوَارِزْمِيّ (al-ḵawārizmiyy), the nisba of Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī and a toponymic name meaning "person from Chorasmia". The spelling change (-s- > -th-) was influenced by unrelated Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmós) (whence English arithmo-).
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1990, Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms: page 1. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999 (23rd printing)
text: Mark Zuckerberg: No, I need the algorithm you used to rank chess players. / Eduardo Saverin: Are you OK? / Mark Zuckerberg: We're ranking girls.
ref: 2010, Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network:
text: The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
ref: 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
text: It’s a computer – an algorithm – and if you’ve been in Iran lately, they take you out of the system.
ref: 2018 June 25, Sam Jones, “Ex-Nato chief refused visa waiver to US because of Iran trips”, in The Guardian:
glosses: A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
examples: text: This retrospective observational analysis evaluated BP [blood pressure] control in an entirely remote management program before and during the pandemic. A team of pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physicians, and nonlicensed navigators used an evidence‐based clinical algorithm to optimize hypertensive treatment. The algorithm was adapted during the pandemic to simplify BP control.
ref: 2023, Lee SG, Blood AJ, Cannon CP, Gordon WJ, Nichols H, Zelle D, Scirica BM, Fisher NDL, “Remote cardiovascular hypertension program enhanced blood pressure control during the COVID-19 pandemic”, in J Am Heart Assoc, volume 12, number 6, →DOI, →PMID, page e027296:
glosses: A flowchart illustrating a decision-making process for human users, especially health care professionals.
glosses: Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
qualifier: social media; usually preceded by definite article "the"; usually preceded by definite article "the"
glosses: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
software that makes content display determinations on a platform, in totality of effect upon all end users (within a potential audience).
examples: text: Glover began his acceptance speech by saying, “First, I want to thank the great algorithm that put us all here.”
ref: 2018 February 26, Tad Friend, quoting Donald Glover, “Donald Glover Can’t Save You”, in The New Yorker:
qualifier: social media
glosses: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
the influenced zeitgeist: e.g. what content ends up trending or viral, what persons become a main character or cancelled
raw_tags: of above
examples: text: … you and I probably didn't run across that in our algorithm, but that doesn't mean that a lot of people aren't gonna run across garbage like that in their algorithms in the next couple weeks…
ref: 2024 October 23, Ben Rhodes, “Trump Blames Zelensky for War, Sucks Up to Saudis” (23:52 from the start), in Pod Save the World (podcast):
qualifier: social media; usually preceded by a possessive determiner; usually preceded by a possessive determiner
glosses: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
the actual personalized selections of content seen by specific user(s), the microtargeting to which they are subject
Hyponyms: approximation algorithm
Baeza-Yates-Gonnet algorithm
Baeza-Yates–Gonnet algorithm
Baum-Welch algorithm
Bellman-Ford algorithm
Bitap algorithm
Borůvka's algorithm
Boyer-Moore-Horspool algorithm
Bresenham's algorithm
British Museum algorithm
Buchberger's algorithm
Chaitin's algorithm
checksum algorithm
classification algorithm
Cohen-Sutherland algorithm
compression algorithm
computer arithmetic algorithm
Cooley-Tukey algorithm
Cyrus–Beck algorithm
Davis-Putnam algorithm
Day-Stout-Warren algorithm
diamond-square algorithm
Dijkstra's algorithm
distributed algorithm
divide and conquer algorithm
DJP algorithm
doomsday algorithm
Douglas-Peucker algorithm
Eppstein's algorithm
Euclidean algorithm
Euclid's algorithm
extended Euclidean algorithm
Fiduccia-Mattheyses algorithm
Flajolet-Martin algorithm
Floyd-Warshall algorithm
forward-backward algorithm
Gale-Shapley algorithm
Gale–Church algorithm
genetic algorithm
Gibbs algorithm
Girvan-Newman algorithm
God's algorithm
Gosper's algorithm
greedy algorithm
Grover's algorithm
hash algorithm
Hopcroft's algorithm
Horspool's algorithm
Jarník's algorithm
Johnson's algorithm
Kadane's algorithm
Kahan summation algorithm
Karatsuba algorithm
Kernighan-Lin algorithm
Knuth-Bendix completion algorithm
Knuth-Morris-Pratt algorithm
Kociemba's algorithm
Korf's algorithm
Kosaraju's algorithm
Kruskal's algorithm
Lanczos algorithm
Las Vegas algorithm
Lee algorithm
Lesk algorithm
Liang–Barsky algorithm
Luhn algorithm
memetic algorithm
Metropolis-Hastings algorithm
Nagle's algorithm
Nicholl–Lee–Nicholl algorithm
painter's algorithm
parallel algorithm
Peterson's algorithm
Pollard's rho algorithm
Prim-Dijkstra algorithm
Prim-Jarník algorithm
Prim's algorithm
Quine-McCluskey algorithm
Rabin-Karp algorithm
Ramer-Douglas-Peucker algorithm
randomized algorithm
Reingold-Tilford algorithm
Remez algorithm
Rete algorithm
Sattolo's algorithm
Schensted algorithm
Schönhage-Strassen algorithm
semi-algorithm
sequential algorithm
Shor's algorithm
shunting-yard algorithm
SMAWK algorithm
spigot algorithm
Strassen algorithm
Suurballe's algorithm
Tarjan's algorithm
Tarski-Kuratowski algorithm
Thistlethwaite's algorithm
time algorithm
Toom-Cook algorithm
Viterbi algorithm
Volder's algorithm
wake-sleep algorithm
Warnock algorithm
Warnock's algorithm
ziggurat algorithm
Coordinate terms: pseudoalgorithm
Derived terms: algocracy
algorithmist
algorithmocracy
autoalgorithm
multialgorithm
polyalgorithm
subalgorithm
Related terms: algebra
algocracy
algorism
algorist
algorithmic
algorithmically
algorithmics
algorithmist
algorithmization
algorithmize
algorithmocracy
algorithmophile
algorithmophobe
autoalgorithm
multialgorithm
polyalgorithm
subalgorithm
data structure
flow chart
function
program