SIGforum
Why has the word algorithm become the cool word

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https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/7950035644

September 02, 2018, 07:26 PM
nero
Why has the word algorithm become the cool word
The fancier the description, the less it illuminates.


nero


_________________________
"Today is the pupil of yesterday."...Publilius Syrus
September 02, 2018, 07:39 PM
Modern Day Savage
quote:
Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Repeatedly hearing "apoplectic" made me apoplectic.

Everybody should know algorithm. How else would you solve your rubix cube?


A couple years ago one of my nephews, then @ 8 or 9 years old, used the word algorithm to describe his process for solving the Rubiks Cube. After he said that I looked at his mother and she just laughed and said "I know".

While his parents know the meaning of the word they are not ones who normally use it in the course of household conversations and I'm certain he learned it elsewhere..most likely at school. While I didn't want to put him on the spot during dinner I wondered if he could have actually given me a definition for the word, or even the correct spelling...but I suspect not.

I haven't heard the word used recently and didn't realize that "algorithm" had become the buzz word of the day, but I don't watch much TV and instead listen to more talk radio and the word doesn't seem to have landed in this media yet.
September 02, 2018, 07:39 PM
TigerDore

September 02, 2018, 07:52 PM
Modern Day Savage
Ha, not 15 minutes after my previous post I hear the word "algorithm" used by a caller to a radio program...but in all fairness it is a tech show.
September 02, 2018, 08:02 PM
mbinky
They have tech radio stations? Are they to help you sleep? Wink

As for the Rubix Cube....ahh the 80's....I never did solve that algorithm...
September 02, 2018, 09:25 PM
Fredward
Because most people don't know what it means.
September 02, 2018, 10:06 PM
Modern Day Savage
quote:
Originally posted by mbinky:
They have tech radio stations? Are they to help you sleep? Wink

As for the Rubix Cube....ahh the 80's....I never did solve that algorithm...


Sure they have tech radio shows...they help those of us techically challenged with all of the electronic devices we buy but don't know how to make work when they start going all Hal 9000 on us or in how to get them to play nice with each other. Smile

...now, George Noory and Coast to Coast, that radio program is for helping you sleep. Wink
September 03, 2018, 08:06 AM
Georgeair
In the final analysis algorithm.



You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02