Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A step-by-step problem-solving procedure, especially an established, recursive computational procedure for solving a problem in a finite number of steps.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An erroneous form of algorism.
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem; a set of procedures guaranteed to find the solution to a problem.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem
Etymologies
- Variant (probably influenced by arithmetic) of algorism.
Examples
“They have very intense and high-level discussions about their work with Dad quite often, and the word algorithm features extremely heavily.”
“The term algorithm simply means a series of steps.”
“I wonder if the algorithm is a little “loose” to get as many copies out as possible? — melissa”
When Your Computer Calls You a Nerd: A Guest Post - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com
“The term algorithm is derived from the name of the Arabic economist, Al-Khowërazmi, who invented them as a way of performing mathematical operations associated with debt and credit.”
“At Consumer Reports, we’re increasingly encountering the term algorithm in reference to smart appliances: dryers that know when loads are dry, refrigerators that can self-regulate their temperature, and dishwashers that sense when dishes are done.”
“An evolutionary algorithm is a program, and like all programs, is independent on the substrate.”
“In any case, an evolutionary algorithm is a model of the behavior of generalized replicators.”
“The filtering algorithm is mysterious, but you can tweak it by either clicking the little pencil that appears on the right when you hover over an item (you can specify that you would like to see more or fewer items of this type or from this user) or by clicking the "Options for News Feed" link all the way at the bottom of this page.”
“The really cool thing about this algorithm is that the computers in the network figure this all out themselves, without human intervention.”
Ada Lovelace Day Spotlight: Radia Perlman « This is what a computer scientist looks like
““The principal datum input to any search algorithm is a description of its search space.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘algorithm’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 623 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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ficciones's list
encyclopedic
imbroglio, splendour, brilliance, labyrinth, vast, precipice, ebb and flow, tidal, crevasse, resonate, redolent, prudent and 55 more...
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Arcadia, a play by Tom Stoppard
theodolite, Arcadia, carnal embrace, QED, sin of Onan, Fermat's last the..., landskip, bootboy, yesterday's upsta..., whole numbers, rice pudding, cabbages and 86 more...
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FYS100
Word discovery & discussion by CSUMB first-year students, to help with required texts.
trippy, bantam, patience, Roseto, Froth, legit, patronage, quarries, compatriot, intact, baby boomer, virtuosos and 35 more...
Stephy2011 I never would have guessed this word was referring to a precise set of rules. It sounded to me like a word that meant theory. Oct 5, 2011
samengel22 This word applies to Gladwell's book called Outliers.
Check out his website. Sep 28, 2011
Vicenta I stumble to this word when reading the book, Outliers. I found it interesting and new to me! Sep 28, 2011
blafferty Nice visuals! Good catch, fbharjo! Jul 24, 2011
fbharjo Did Al Gore invent this, too?
Maybe it was Gore Vidal? Jul 23, 2011
ramsler Citation: 'algorithm' used as a verb
“Google’s culture is very much based on the power of the algorithm, and it’s very difficult to algorithm social interaction,” Ms. Li said. [Comments attributed to "Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group, a technology research and advisory firm" in Oct. 17th, 2010 New York Times article, "Determined to Crack the Social Code" by Claire Cain Miller.
Oct 18, 2010
rolig Eponymous and toponymous!
< MedL. algorismus < Arabic al-Kwarizmi, "the Khwarezmian", a cognomen for the 9th-c. mathematician Abu Jafar Mohammed ibn Musa. Dec 16, 2007