Talk:Algorism

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The definition and the discussion below all miss the crucial point about an algorism (or more generally an algorithm): that the same sequence of operations is repeated, i.e. the computing process is cyclic, the computing path is circuital. The computing language Algol was so called because the feature it made explicit was the decomposition of a process into nested hierarchies of programming loops. Al Khorismi's method has been as important as Copernicus showing that the earth orbits the sun, Harvey showing the circulation of the blood, Ampere discovering the circulation of electricity, Lanchester the circulation of air making powered flight possible, Lonergan the money circuits explaining repeated failures of the economic system (obvious anyway to anyone who has mapped the algorithm for compound interest); Shannon invented logic circuits and Wiener asynchronous information feedback circuits; matter itself is inexplicable except as self-attracting energy localised by cycling (c.f. "spray"). The fact that one cannot always see the circuital path of a cyclic process (as when one looks at a list of instructions on a piece of paper) does not mean that it does not exist in reality. Reading Wikipedia one despairs of the sciences which have failed to see the significance of cyclic action. 203.214.103.25 (talk) 04:10, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

merge with Arabic numerals? -- Tarquin 16:35, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)

No -- Algorism is the place-value system of encoding numbers and the arithmetic on those numbers. That's independent of the numerals (glyphs) used to write down those numbers. mfc

yes, but Hindu-Arabic numeral system is intended to be precisely about that, not the glyphs (although the glyphs are discussed as associated with the historical development). dab (ᛏ) 09:48, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

But Hindu-Arabic numeral system says nothing at all about arithmetic, just how to write numbers and what values they have? (But Algorism is sadly lacking in both, as an article, at present.) Perhaps Algorism should have more on the arithmetic aspects and refer to H-ANS for the details of the positional notation. mfc

well, I am suggesting a merge, meaning that all that is discussed here should be moved to the HAN article. Plus, the arithmetic aspects should also be added there. dab (ᛏ) 10:44, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Understood; I am suggesting that would not be an improvement, because the HAN article is already quite large and expanding it with another topic would make it less crisp and clear. Besides, 'Algorism' is used rather more generally nowadays, to refer to decimal arithmetic. mfc

I see. I suppose I'm just a mergist. The "(also called Algorism)" on HAN irks me. If the term is used for decimal arithmetic, it should then be merged with decimal, shouldn't it? Or it should be a {{dab}} page,

Algorism refers to

• the Hindu-Arabic numeral system of decimal positional notation
• decimal arithmetics in general

I don't know what is the precise use of the word, and the article at present doesn't help me by citing any sources :( dab (ᛏ) 22:14, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

<chuckle> ... so that's why Wikipedia articles just get bigger and bigegr :-). I've reworked this one in the light of this discussion to try and better explain the usage of the word -- it is more the arithmetic than the writing, but it's the method of doing arithmetic using the particular notation which is the main thing, here. (Using an abacus is decimal arithmetic -- but it is not algorism. So this isn't the same as decimal arithmetic in general.) I've also added a reference (good suggestion) .. the quotes in the OED all use the term in this way, as best as one can tell. mfc 16:58, 12 January 2006 (UTC)

merge with Al Gore?--Greasysteve13 12:25, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Merge with Positional notation

It was suggested that this page be merged with positional notation with the claim: synonym. They are not. Algorism is a technique for making efficient arithmetic operations which uses the positional notation. Cheers, — sligocki (talk) 19:43, 28 October 2009 (UTC)