Introductory Chapter: Search Algorithm - Essence of Optimization
Dinesh G. Harkut · IntechOpen eBooks · 2023
IntroductionEvery time you hit the search button on Google, the search engine sifts through thousands of searches, if not millions of web pages, to spit out the content we are seeking in a fraction of a second.It is an algorithm -a set of mathematical rules embedded in the software, which makes all this possible.In fact, every time we enlist for a unique identity social security/Aadhaar number, access an automated teller machine, book train or air tickets, or buy merchandise online, we are indirectly expanding the scope and range of algorithms, a mathematical concept whose roots date back to 600 AD with the invention of the decimal system.Algorithms are nothing but the logically group of instructions aimed at solving a problem or completing a task.Recipes are algorithms like math equations.Computer code is algorithmic.Algorithms are aimed at optimizing everything.Mathematical algorithms include fundamental methods from arithmetic and numerical analysis, which in turn manipulate the data through addition, multiplication of integers, polynomials, and matrices, and may be used for solving a large variety of mathematical problems which arise in many contexts: solution of simultaneous equations, data fitting and integration, and random number generation.Here, the main emphasis is on algorithmic aspects of the methods, rather than the mathematical basis.Whenever we use a computer, laptop, phone, or a mileage calculator in a car, we are using algorithms, and we may call it programs, or software packages, or apps.They can make things easier, save lives, and surmount disorder.To discuss the effects of technology-enabled assistance in human lives, algorithms are a useful artifact to begin with.Algorithms have penetrated in every aspect of human life and provide a better standard against which to compare human cognition itself.It becomes the new arbiters of human decision-making in almost any area we can imagine like which movie to watch to which house to buy to self-driving cars.Biometrics refer to identifying human being by certain physical features like fingerprints or iris scans.Biometrics-based social security identity card or Aadhaar card, in Indian context which evolved as the India's universal identity card, in turn uses an algorithm to store and retrieve fingerprints and iris scans.Computer scientists have devised algorithms that can analyze a given thumbprint and match it against a database.Because of the overdependence of human beings on computer, indirectly only the algorithms determine whether one gets a job or one get into college or get an apartment; moreover, their work goes largely unnoticed.Algorithms are behind many routines works, but they are still significant decision-making tools in everyone's life.