ALGORITHM

noun Etymology: alteration of Middle English algorisme, from Old French & Medieval Latin; Old French, from Medieval Latin algorismus, from Arabic al-khuwārizmi, from al-Khwārizmī fl A.D. 825 Islamic mathematician Date: 1926 a procedure for solving a mathematical problem (as of finding the greatest common divisor) in a finite number of steps that frequently involves repetition of an operation, ~ic adjective ~ically adverb