Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Origin: algorism 'algorithm' (13-19 centuries), from Medieval Latin algorismus, from Arabic al-khuwarizmi, from al-Khuwarizmi 9th-century Arab mathematician; influenced by Greek arithmos 'number'

algorithm

 noun
     
al‧go‧rith‧m [countable]
TD technical a set of instructions that are followed in a fixed order and used for solving a mathematical problem, making a computer program etc
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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