Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A What is the difference between method and algorithm?

I would say, in plain English, a "method" is an approach to accomplishing something without any guarantee of success. An "algorithm" implies greater accuracy, dealing with well-defined and consist...

posted 6y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:27Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37186
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T09:12:56Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37186
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T09:12:56Z (about 5 years ago)
I would say, in plain English, a "method" is an approach to accomplishing something without any guarantee of success.

An "algorithm" implies greater accuracy, dealing with well-defined and consistent objects with a greater certainty of reaching a specific goal.

The terms are definitely confused in usage between these two things, but in general I think this would be a good division of meaning between the two.

e.g. I could have a general method for dealing with employee conflicts, but it doesn't rise to an "algorithm" because people and their conflicts are too varied to produce a step-by-step solution that always works. Each situation requires individualized understanding and thought. There is no "one size fits all" solution.

Whereas, something like a recipe for baking a cake is very much an algorithm, the ingredients and methods are very well-defined, and following the instructions precisely without error will result in a cake.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-06-24T14:06:34Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 1