Algorithms For Dummies

 The Part of Tens

For algorithm purists, you can say that the algorithm has changed the world 

throughout the centuries, so nothing has really changed for thousands of years. 

The Babylonians used algorithms to perform factorization and find square roots 

as early as 1600 BC. Al-Khawarizmi described algorithms to solve both linear and 

quadratic equations around 820. This chapter focuses on computer-based algo-

rithms, but algorithms have been around for a long time.

Using Sort Routines

Without ordered data, most of the world would come to a stop. To use data, you 

must be able to find it. You can find hundreds of sort algorithms explained on sites 

such as 

https://betterexplained.com/articles/sorting-algorithms/

 and 

as part of this book (see Chapter 7).

However, the three most common sort routines are Mergesort, Quicksort, and 

Heapsort because of the superior speed they provide (see the time comparisons at 

http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/computersciencetheory/sortcomp.

html

).  The  sort  routine  that  works  best  for  your  application  depends  on  the 

following: