Algorithm from Britannica.com: "Systematic procedure that produces--in a finite number of steps--the answer to a question or the solution of a problem. The name derives from the Latin translation, Algoritmi de numero Indorum, of the 9th-century Muslim mathematician al-Khwarizmi's arithmetic treatise "Al-Khwarizmi Concerning the Hindu Art of Reckoning."
An algorithm has nothing to do with a groovin' Al Gore and everything to do with everything else.
The mathematician and philosopher David Berlinski calls algorithms the "second great western idea" - the first being calculus. If calculus gave birth to modern science, he says, algorithms have created the modern world.
The concept of the algorithm began with Aristotelian logic and took centuries to crystallize, but it's ultimately a deceptively simple idea: think of it as a recipe or a code - a set of precise instructions that uses symbols to convey information. So a command like "go fetch the newspaper" could be an algorithm.
But algorithms are also what make computers possible. They can help us solve physics problems that are beyond the limits of calculus. And Berlinski says they're even a metaphor for life: they let us think about human intelligence, molecular biology, and evolution in new ways.
The world of algorithms - in this hour. (Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
