What is an Algorithm?


In the logician's voice:

An algorithm is

a finite procedure,

written in a fixed symbolic vocabulary,

governed by precise instructions,

moving in discrete steps, 1, 2, 3,...,

whose execution requires no insight, cleverness, intuition, intelligence, or perspicuity,

and that sooner or later comes to an end.

From The Advent of the Algorithm, by David Berlinski