# Community Help: Check the Help Files, then come here to ask! > Newbies Corner >  Algorithms?

## LAT

I'm simply trying to understand the terminology.  Does this simply mean the stitching together of independent commands?  Crud ... I lose myself in the words more than the work itself  ...... offttt.  If it is just stitching (which I think all programs are anyway), why does it have such prominence or is it just a way to categorize  subsets of scripts ...
I'm confused



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## ehawk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm

It's just the method employed to map the input to the output/carry out a computational task.

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## saikee

From where I come from an alogrithm is an established procedure normally associated with a mathematic technique.

Suppose you want to solve the roots of a quadratic equation there are different ways to achieve it and each method can be described as an algorithm and could be a computer procedure of its own.

For example a standard solution of finding x in equation 0=a*x*x+b*x+c is x=(-b+-sqrt(b*b-4*a*c))/(2*a).  See here for details.

However one can also solve it iteratively using Newton's method of approximation and have a different algorithm for the solution.  This method is based on the slope of a curve y=a*x*x+b*x+c is equal to y' or 2*a*x+b (the first derivative of y of dy/dx) which is also numerically equal to (y2-y1)/(x2-x1) where (x1,y2) and (x2,y2) are two points on the curve.  If we want y2=0 then it follows (0-y1)/(x2-x1)=y' so x2=x1-y1/y'.  Putting any x1, compute y1 and y' will yield a new x2.  The procedure is repeated until the improvement become insignificant and latest x2 is one of the root.  A full explanation is given here. 

A third method is by trial and error.  If you know x lies within a range you can try it with a loop by searching the entire range.  The one producing the least error is your solution.  Not much an algorithm but it is surprisingly effective.

A scripts comprising several commands can be described as an algorithm too as it gets something done by a procedure.  However an algorithm is used more often as a computational procedure for a mathematical technique.

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## Ashley Scott

I'd do it like this in here or by trial an error

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## SpywareDr

Umm... you're a bit late. This thread is over a decade old.  :Wink:

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## karehhai7

I'm simply trying to understand the terminology.

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## SpywareDr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm

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## karehhai7

I come from an alogrithm is an established procedure normally associated with a mathematic technique.  

**Links removed by Site Administrator so it doesn't look like you're spamming us. Please don't post them again.**

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## SpywareDr

> I come from an alogrithm...


Hmmm... Don't believe I've ever heard that or seen one of you.




> ... alogrithm is an established procedure normally associated with a mathematic technique.


https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/algorithm



> Definition of algorithm
> 
> : a procedure for solving a mathematical problem (as of finding the greatest common divisor) in a finite number of steps that frequently involves repetition of an operation broadly : a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or accomplishing some end 
> 
> ...continues...

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