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In mathematics, computing, linguistics, and related disciplines, an algorithm is a finite list of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task that, given an initial state, will terminate in a defined end-state.
The concept of an algorithm originated as a means of recording procedures for solving mathematical problems such as finding the common divisor of two numbers or multiplying two numbers. A partial formalization of the concept began with attempts to solve the Entscheidungsproblem (the "decision problem") that David Hilbert posed in 1928. Subsequent formalizations were framed as attempts to define "effective calculability" (cf Kleene 1943:274) or "effective method" (cf Rosser 1939:225); those formalizations included the Gödel-Herbrand-Kleene recursive functions of 1930, 1934 and 1935, Alonzo Church's lambda calculus of 1936, Emil Post's "Formulation I" of 1936, and Alan Turing's Turing machines of 1936-7 and 1939. |
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