Algorithms in Everyday Life

Introduction to Algorithms. An algorithm is a list of steps you follow to finish a task. We use algorithms in our daily lives – from getting ready in the morning to solving math problems in school.

Have you ever given someone a task? For us humans, it’s easy to string together words to give each other commands – and for others to follow those commands. For example: Draw a checkerboard pattern using graph paper and a crayon. Following just one sentence, you are able to create a relatively complex pattern – a checkerboard.

Yet, it’s different for computers, which have very simple machine brains. While we have 10,000 words in the English language to choose from, computers work with a limited number of words. In the computing world, these are called ‘symbols’.

• Coding , or Programming , is simply the way people tell a computer what to do using instructions that the computer understands.

• Computer science is the study of computers and the processes that use algorithms – including their principles, their hardware and software designs, and their impact on society.

What is the difference between an algorithm and a program? An algorithm is the thinking behind what needs to happen, while the program is the actual instructions that make it happen. An algorithm has to be translated into a program before a computer can run it.

Algorithms in Everyday Life

Brainstorm with your team examples of algorithms that you do every day, like following a recipe to make Chicken Parmesan or understanding how to play your favorite board game. They may come from time you spend at home, at school or in your extracurricular activities. Then, select one example as a team and write down the steps that someone new to that activity would need to follow.