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Algorithm vs Arithmetic - What's the difference?

algorithm | arithmetic |

As nouns the difference between algorithm and arithmetic

is that algorithm is a precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps while arithmetic is the mathematics of numbers (integers, rational numbers, real numbers, or complex numbers) under the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

As an adjective arithmetic is

of, relating to, or using arithmetic; arithmetical.

algorithm

Alternative forms

* algorism (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input value and yields an output value in a finite number of steps.
  • * 1990 , Cormen, Leiserson, and Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms'': page 1. Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1999 (''23rd printing )
  • Informally, an algorithm''''' is any well-defined computational procedure that takes some value, or set of values, as input and produces some value, or set of values, as output. An ' algorithm is thus a sequence of computational steps that transform the input into the output.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-26, author=(Leo Hickman)
  • , volume=189, issue=7, page=26, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= How algorithms rule the world , passage=The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.}}
  • (archaic) Calculation with Arabic numerals; algorism.
  • Hyponyms

    (hyp-top) * approximation algorithm * checksum algorithm * classification algorithm * compression algorithm * computer arithmetic algorithm * distributed algorithm * divide and conquer algorithm (hyp-mid) * genetic algorithm * greedy algorithm * parallel algorithm * randomized algorithm * randomized algorithm * semi-algorithm * sequential algorithm (hyp-bottom)

    Usage notes

    * Though some technical definitions require that an algorithm always terminate in a finite number of steps, this distinction is not generally observed in practice.

    See also

    * data structure * function * program

    arithmetic

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • The mathematics of numbers (integers, rational numbers, real numbers, or complex numbers) under the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across.

    Synonyms

    * (study) math (US), maths (UK), mathematics

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from the noun "arithmetic") * affine arithmetic * arithmetician * binary arithmetic * Boolean arithmetic * clock arithmetic * congruence arithmetic * decimal arithmetic * floating-point arithmetic * fuzzy arithmetic * interval arithmetic * location arithmetic * modular arithmetic * Peano arithmetic * Presburger arithmetic * saturation arithmetic * significance arithmetic

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (mathematics) Of, relating to, or using arithmetic; arithmetical.
  • arithmetic geometry
  • *
  • (arithmetic) Of a progression, mean, etc, computed solely using addition.
  • arithmetic progression

    Coordinate terms

    * (computed solely using addition) geometric

    Derived terms

    (terms derived from the adjective "arithmetic") * arithmetic mean * arithmetic progression * arithmetic series

    See also

    * English heteronyms