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 possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
- n. archaic Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
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
- From French algorithme; from the Old French algorisme ("the Arabic numeral system"), a modification likely due to a mistaken connection with Ancient Greek ἀριθμός (arithmos); from Medieval Latin algorismus, a transliteration of Arabicized form of the name of the Persian mathematician al-Khwārizmī (الخوارزمي ("native of Khwarezm")). (Wiktionary)
- Variant (probably influenced by arithmetic) of algorism. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
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 636 more...
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SCIE - mathematics
The most frequent words in the titles of mathematical books and journals (www.sciencedirect.com)
nonparametric, nonparametric sta..., multivariate anal..., partial different..., multivariate, topology, stochastic, differential equa..., linear algebra, harmonic analysis, applied mathematics, combinatorial and 205 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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SCIE - statistics
Abbe-Helmert crit..., a priori probability, alphabet, total correlation, three-dimensional..., theoretical frequ..., time reversal test, three-series theorem, theoretical variable, tetrachoric corre..., absolutely unbias..., absolute error and 4171 more...
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INTERP - terminology management terms
Terms from the fields of terminology, lexicography, lexicology and corpus linguistics
reworder, rewording, parser, parsing, tagger, tagging, aligner, aligning, content analysis, content analyzer, corpus management, glossary and 546 more...
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SCIE - graph theory
morphism, preorder, diagram, vector, quiver, functor, ancestor, successor, parent, simple, source, embedding and 423 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...
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Loanwords,Arabic
Everbody knows where 'hazard' came from,More Arabic Words?
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorithm, alidade, alizarin and 15 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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edwardvielmetti's Words
wordhord, wordhoard, wordy, wordie, wiki, toriokyo, superpatron, vacuum, crazy, crazybusy, a2b3, 48104 and 220 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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everythingecstatic's Words
cadence, frenetic, eloquence, paradigm, nocturne, elusive, effervescence, soliloquy, plethora, elision, aqueous, transcend and 166 more...
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spicolli's Words
terrapin, ravenous, fuck, sepulchral, garlic, suss, queer, curmudgeon, foodie, intricate, omphalos, subversion and 534 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for algorithm.
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