How Machines Think
Algorithms Are Everywhere
6 min+50 XPStep 1/8
An algorithm is a recipe
An algorithm is just a set of steps that solves a problem. A cake recipe is an algorithm. So is 'sort these names alphabetically' and 'find the fastest route to school.'
Computers run algorithms — millions of steps per second, no complaints. That's the whole superpower: do exactly this, forever, perfectly.
analogy
A recipe tells a human how to bake bread. An algorithm tells a computer how to do anything. Both fail the same way: a missing step or a bad assumption ruins the result.