Introduction

Abstract

The central notions in this book are those of the algorithm and computation, not a particular algorithm for a particular problem or a particular computation, but the algorithm and computation in general. The first algorithms were discovered by the ancient Greeks. Faced with a specific problem, they asked for a set of instructions, whose execution in the prescribed order would eventually provide the solution to the problem. This view of the algorithm sufficed since the fourth century B.C.E., which meant there was no need to ask questions about algorithms and computation in general.

A recipe is a set of instructions describing how to prepare something. A culinary recipe for a dish consists of the required ingredients and their quantities, equipment and environment needed to prepare the dish, an ordered list of preparation steps, and the texture and flavor of the dish.