Algoritmi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Structured procedures or rules designed to perform specific tasks or solve problems in a finite number of steps ; a sequence of instructions enabling computation or data processing in various fields ; a systematic method for calculation or data manipulation to achieve a desired outcome
2. A defined series of operations or reasoning steps aimed at completing a function or resolving an issue ; an ordered set of commands executed by machines to process information ; a formula or routine guiding the transformation of inputs into outputs in computing or mathematics
3. A logical step-by-step approach for accomplishing tasks or making decisions ; a coded prescription for carrying out data handling or numerical calculations ; a finite process used for problem-solving or executing programmed actions in technology and mathematics

Etymology: "Algoritmi" is the Latin form of the name of the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, who worked in Baghdad in the early 9th century. Latin translators of his arithmetic treatise rendered his name as "Algoritmi," and the Latin phrase "dixit Algoritmi," meaning "Algoritmi said," introduced his procedures. Over time the name itself came to stand for the step-by-step methods he described. The word "algorism" originally meant the practice of calculating with Hindu-Arabic numerals, the place-value system that replaced Roman numerals in European arithmetic. Through a process of folk reshaping, it was later linked with the Greek "arithmos," meaning number, which helped produce the modern spelling "algorithm" in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its sense broadened from arithmetic methods to any fixed procedure for solving a problem.

Synonyms: algorithms