Chapter 21
Ten Algorithms That Are Changing the World
IN THIS CHAPTER
Considering sort and search routines
Using random numbers
Making data smaller
Ensuring that data remains secret, and more …
It’s hard to imagine an algorithm doing much of anything physical, much less changing the world. However, algorithms today appear everywhere, and you might not even realize just how much effect they have on your life.
Most people realize that online stores and other sales venues rely on algorithms to determine which add-on products to suggest based on previous purchases. However, most people are unaware of the uses of algorithms in medicine, many of which help a doctor decide what diagnosis to provide.
Algorithms appear in the oddest places. The timing of traffic lights often depends on the calculations of algorithms. Algorithms help your smartphone talk to you, and algorithms make your television do more than any television has done in the past. Consequently, it’s not all that impossible to believe that algorithms are poised to change the world. This chapter highlights ten of them.
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