A specific set of instructions for carrying out a procedure or solving a problem, usually with the requirement that the procedure terminate at some point. Specific algorithms sometimes also go by the name Method, Procedure, or Technique. The word ``algorithm'' is a distortion of al-Khwarizmi, an Arab mathematician who wrote an influential treatise about algebraic methods.
See also 196-Algorithm, Algorithmic Complexity, Archimedes Algorithm, Bhaskara-Brouckner Algorithm, Borchardt-Pfaff Algorithm, Brelaz's Heuristic Algorithm, Buchberger's Algorithm, Bulirsch-Stoer Algorithm, Bumping Algorithm, CLEAN Algorithm, Computable Function, Continued Fraction Factorization Algorithm, Decision Problem, Dijkstra's Algorithm, Euclidean Algorithm, Ferguson-Forcade Algorithm, Fermat's Algorithm, Floyd's Algorithm, Gaussian Approximation Algorithm, Genetic Algorithm, Gosper's Algorithm, Greedy Algorithm, Hasse's Algorithm, HJLS Algorithm, Jacobi Algorithm, Kruskal's Algorithm, Levine-O'Sullivan Greedy Algorithm, LLL Algorithm, Markov Algorithm, Miller's Algorithm, Neville's Algorithm, Newton's Method, Prime Factorization Algorithms, Primitive Recursive Function, Program, PSLQ Algorithm, PSOS Algorithm, Quotient-Difference Algorithm, Risch Algorithm, Schrage's Algorithm, Shanks' Algorithm, Spigot Algorithm, Syracuse Algorithm, Total Function, Turing Machine, Zassenhaus-Berlekamp Algorithm, Zeilberger's Algorithm
References
Aho, A. V.; Hopcroft, J. E.; and Ullman, J. D. The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1974.
Baase, S. Computer Algorithms. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1988.
Brassard, G. and Bratley, P. Fundamentals of Algorithmics. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995.
Cormen, T. H.; Leiserson, C. E.; and Rivest, R. L. Introduction to Algorithms. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1990.
Greene, D. H. and Knuth, D. E. Mathematics for the Analysis of Algorithms, 3rd ed. Boston: Birkhäuser, 1990.
Harel, D. Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992.
Knuth, D. E. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 1: Fundamental Algorithms, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1973.
Knuth, D. E. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2: Seminumerical Algorithms, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1981.
Knuth, D. E. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 3: Sorting and Searching, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1973.
Kozen, D. C. Design and Analysis and Algorithms. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1991.
Shen, A. Algorithms and Programming. Boston: Birkhäuser, 1996.
Skiena, S. S. The Algorithm Design Manual. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1997.
Wilf, H. Algorithms and Complexity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986.
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~wilf/.
© 1996-9 Eric W. Weisstein