Tag: algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm /ˈælɡərɪðəm/ (originating from al-Khwārizmī, the famous Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī) is a step-by-step procedure for calculations. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning.
More precisely, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Starting from an initial state and initial input (perhaps empty), the instructions describe a computation that, when executed, will proceed through a finite number of well-defined successive states, eventually producing “output” and terminating at a final ending state. The transition from one state to the next is not necessarily deterministic; some algorithms, known as randomized algorithms, incorporate random input.
A partial formalization of the concept began with attempts to solve the Entscheidungsproblem (the “decision problem”) posed by David Hilbert in 1928….