algorithm
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
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
▲
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-).
Inflected forms:
form: algorithms
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: algorism
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: augrim
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: 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.
Mark Zuckerberg: No, I need the algorithm you used to rank chess players. / Eduardo Saverin: Are you OK? / Mark Zuckerberg: We're ranking girls.
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.
It’s a computer – an algorithm – and if you’ve been in Iran lately, they take you out of the system.
gloss: A flowchart illustrating a decision-making process for human users, especially health care professionals.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
uncountable
gloss: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
pos: noun
tags: countable
metonymically
uncountable
gloss: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
informal
metonymically
uncountable
examples: Glover began his acceptance speech by saying, “First, I want to thank the great algorithm that put us all here.”
gloss: recommender systems and the curation of feeds
pos: noun
tags: countable
informal
metonymically
uncountable
examples: … 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…
Related words: algebra
algocracy
algorism
algorist
algorithmic
algorithmically
algorithmics
algorithmist
algorithmization
algorithmize
algorithmocracy
algorithmophile
algorithmophobe
autoalgorithm
multialgorithm
polyalgorithm
subalgorithm
data structure
flow chart
function
program
Derived words: algocracy
algorethics
algorithmist
algorithmocracy
autoalgorithm
multialgorithm
polyalgorithm
subalgorithm
superalgorithm
Translations: