Algorithms

6 Minute English

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2021

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We talk about the maths formulas that are increasingly part of our lives.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a download from BBC Learning English.
0:03.1	To find out more, visit our website.
0:14.2	Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.
0:17.5	I'm Neil.
0:18.3	And I'm Sam.
0:19.4	What do shopping with a credit card,
0:21.4	finding love through internet dating
0:23.6	and waiting for the traffic lights to change, have in common?
0:28.2	They all involve computers.
0:29.7	Good guess, Sam, but how exactly do those computers work?
0:33.6	The answer is that they all use algorithms,
0:37.2	sets of mathematical instructions
0:39.3	which find solutions to problems.
0:41.6	Although they are often hidden,
0:43.5	algorithms are all around us.
0:45.7	From mobile phone maps to home delivery pizza,
0:48.7	they play a big part of modern life.
0:51.2	And they're the topic of this programme.
0:53.5	A simple way to think of algorithms is as recipes.
0:57.2	To make pancakes, you mix flour, eggs and milk,
1:00.4	then melt butter in a frying pan and so on.
1:03.4	Computers do this in a more complicated way
	...

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