Story by Adam Voiland. Image of the Day Land Human Presence. Though the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking over the past decade, this true-color image from August shows slight growth in the southern sea as water flowed into it from the Amu Darya for the first time since Image of the Day Land.
In , it was the world's fourth largest lake. Thanks to irrigation projects, now it is mostly gone. Once part of the fourth-largest lake in the world, the eastern lobe of the southern Aral has dried up for the first time in modern history. Image of the Day Land Water. EO Explorer. How Algorithm Got Its Name. View this area in EO Explorer. Algorithms are not only pretty interesting when you look into them, but they are also vitally important for the operation of our modern, digital world.
As you may know, algorithms are widely used in mathematics and computer science. But you may be surprised to learn that you personally also use them all the time. Algorithms provide a step-by-step procedure for doing things, like mathematical calculations. But you also use it whenever you do something like baking a cake. In their modern sense, algorithms are used for mathematical determinations, data processing, and automated reasoning to name a few.
Put simply, without them, the modern world would work very differently indeed. Here we will explore, very briefly, the fascinating and long history of algorithms. We will look at the origin of algorithms, including the etymology of algorithms, and take a peek at some of the most important ones.
We will also take you on a quick tour of some uses of them in the modern world. Let's get stuck in, shall we? As previously mentioned, an algorithm is, essentially, a sequence of steps used to solve a certain task. For an algorithm to truly be considered valid, it must have three important characteristics:. We use algorithms every single day, but you may not notice it. Any recipe you use for making your favorite meal, the route you use to get from A to B, or the act of searching for your recipe or route online all make use of algorithms at some level.
The term "algorithm" has a very interesting origin in English. The Latin word algoritmi was then translated into English as 'algorithm'. Al-Khwarizmi is also known as, by some, "the father of Algebra" and is widely credited as the man who introduced sophisticated mathematics to the West after the fall of Rome. Interestingly, it also seems that Al-Khwarizmi built on the work of an older Indian polymath known as Brahmagupta.
Today, the meaning of the term algorithm has been broadened to include any method of computation. This is especially the case from the midth Century onwards where it is commonly used with reference to computing. While the term is an old one, our modern thinking about algorithms only really came into existence with the rise and use of variables in mathematics.
They have been used for millennia actually. According to historical records and archaeological artifacts, the very first recognizable algorithm may well have been created by the Babylonians around BC.
Recorded on clay tablets in a form of cuniform , these algorithms were used for factorization and finding square roots, etc, and were very simple by today's standards.
Over the following centuries, the Islamic world built on the ancient Greek, Indian, and Chinese works to develop more complex cryptanalysis, encryptions, and ciphers. The real progress of the modern algorithm occurred during the mid-to-late-industrial revolution. At this time, George Boole notably invented binary algebra, the basis for modern computer code. Ada Lovelace produced the very first "computer program" in the s. Alan Turing first formalized the concept of the algorithm in with his infamous Turing machine.
The addition of Alonzo Church's lambda calculus paved the way for modern computer science. As you have seen, algorithms not only have a long history, but they are essential parts of modern daily life. Even without the rise of computers, it is likely algorithms of some kind would still play a major role in your daily routine. That being said, here are some examples of algorithms used in daily life. Please note the following examples are in no particular order and the list is not exhaustive.
From the humble cup of tea to the vastly more intricate daube of beef, recipes are a series of instructions to create what are some of the most important things in your life - food and drinks. In most cases, the rules can be "bent" to your taste, but often complete disregard of the recipe will result in a failed or flawed end result.
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