algorithm,algorism,...
2007-04-28 10:11:13 · 4 answers · asked by memol_652006 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Programming & Design
An algorithm is a way to calculate something. You follow a list of steps until you get to the answer. For example, an algorithm to multiply two numbers is to add one of the numbers to itself many times. Here are the instructions to multiply 3 times 4:
1. Let's call the first number (3) x.
2. Call the second number (4) y.
3. Keep adding x to itself, and each time, subtract 1 from y.
4. When y=0, stop. The answer will be x.
The method you use in school is different. Usually you memorize all the multiplications of numbers up to 12. But calculators and computers don't do that. They use the algorithm above, because it works up to really high numbers like a trillion or more.
The word "algorithm" comes from the name of a Muslim scientist Al-Khwārizmī. If you say that name really fast it sounds like "algorithm", which was easier for Europeans to pronounce. He wrote books about mathematics, so his name became our word for ways to calculate numbers.
2007-04-28 10:21:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
An algorithm is a mathematical formula for calculating matter or energy in a standard way.
Any commonly used equation.
2007-04-28 10:15:08 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting...
2007-04-28 10:17:16 · answer #3 · answered by Don Eppes 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
????
algorithm is a receipt for how to calculate something.
2007-04-28 10:14:04 · answer #4 · answered by gjmb1960 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋