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Algorithm vs Technique - What's the difference?

algorithm | technique |

As nouns the difference between algorithm and technique

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 technique is (uncountable) the practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc; formal requirements.

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

    technique

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) The practical aspects of a given art, occupation etc.; formal requirements.
  • * 1924 , HE Wortham, A Musical Odyssey , p. 97:
  • Brahms, after realizing that the technique of the piano was developing along mistaken lines, and his own danger of stereotyping his style, keeps away from it for most of his middle age [...].
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.}}
  • (uncountable) Practical ability in some given field or practice, often as opposed to creativity or imaginative skill.
  • * 2011 , "Bhimsen Joshi", The Economist , 3 Feb 2011:
  • Yet those who packed concert halls to listen to him sing, as Indians did for over six decades, rarely mentioned his technique .
  • (label) a method of achieving something or carrying something out, especially one requiring some skill or knowledge.
  • * 2011 , Paul Lewis & Matthew Taylor, The Guardian , 16 Mar 2011:
  • They said executives were warned about one technique nicknamed "carpet karaoke", which involved bending deportees over in aircraft seats to silence them.