Algorithms That Changed the World

Algorithms can be found everywhere you look -- in the linking structure of the Web, in the inner workings of an automobile and in the intricacies of stock markets and exchanges. In fact, if you can ask, "How does it work?" the answer most likely involves an algorithm. Algorithms -- or, in layman's terms, defined procedures for accomplishing a task or solving a problem -- abound throughout the computing industry. These protocols have shaped the ways in which people communicate, transact business and even pursue recreation using computers.

Certain algorithms are more well known than others. Some of the most famous include TCP/IP, which defines how the Internet transmits data; Google's search engine , which defines the way in which millions of people find information online; and HTTP, which underlies the World Wide Web and played a large part in the Internet's mid-1990s mainstream breakthrough.

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