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OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi POEMS THAT SOLVE PUZZLES OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi POEMS THAT SOLVE PUZZLES The History and Science of Algorithms Chris Bleakley 1 OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©ChrisBleakley2020 Themoralrightsoftheauthorhavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2020 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2020933199 ISBN978–0–19–885373–2 Printedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi ForEileen-thankyou OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi algorithm,noun: Aprocessorsetofrulestobefollowedincalculationsorother problem-solvingoperations,especiallybyacomputer. The Arabic source, al-Kwa¯rizm¯i ‘the man of Kwa¯rizm’ (now Khiva),wasanamegiventotheninth-centurymathemati- cianAbu¯Ja’farMuhammadibnMu¯sa,authorofwidelytrans- latedworksonalgebraandarithmetic. OxfordDictionaryofEnglish,2010 OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi Foreword Thisbookisforpeoplethatknowalgorithmsareimportant,buthave noideawhattheyare. TheinspirationforthebookcametomewhileworkingasDirector ofOutreachforUCD’sSchoolofComputerScience.Overthecourse ofhundredsofdiscussionswithparentsandsecondaryschoolstudents, Irealizedthatmostpeopleareawareofalgorithms,thankstoextensive mediacoverageofGoogle,Facebook,andCambridgeAnalytica.How- ever, few know what algorithms are, how they work, or where they camefrom.Thisbookanswersthosequestions. Thebookiswrittenforthegeneralreader.Nopreviousknowledge of algorithms or computers is needed. However, even those with a degree in computing will, I think, find the stories herein surprising, entertaining,and enlightening. Readers witha firm grasp of what an algorithmismightliketoskiptheintroduction.Myaimisthatreaders enjoythebookandlearnsomethingnewalongtheway. My apologies to the great many people who were involved in the eventsdescribedherein,butwhoarenotmentionedbyname.Almost everyinnovationistheproductofateamworkingtogether,building on the discoveries of their predecessors. To make the book readable as a story, I tend to focus on a small number of key individuals. For more detail, I refer the interested reader to the papers cited in the bibliography. Inplaces,Ifavouragood storyover mind-numbingcompleteness. Ifyourfavouritealgorithmismissing,letmeknowandImightslipit intoafutureedition.Whendescribingwhatanalgorithmdoes,Iusethe presenttense,evenforoldalgorithms.Iusepluralpronounsinplaceof gender-specificsingularpronouns.AlldollaramountsareUSdollars. Manythankstothosethatgenerouslygavepermissiontouseoftheir photographsandquotations.Manythanksalsotomyassistantsinthis endeavour:myfirsteditor,EoinBleakley;mymentor,MichaelSheri- dan (author); my wonderful agent, Isabel Atherton; my bibliography wrangler,ConorBleakley;myever-patientassistanteditor,Katherine Ward; everyone at Oxford University Press; my reviewers, Guénolé SilvestreandPádraigCunningham;and,last,butcertainlynotleast,my parentsandmywife.Withouttheirhelp,thisbookwouldnothavebeen possible. Readonandenjoy! Chris OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi OUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi AbouttheAuthor ChrisBleakleyhasthirty-fiveyearsofexperienceinalgorithmdesign. Hehastaughtandwrittenonthesubjectforthelastsixteenofthose years. As a school kid, Chris taught himself how to program on a home computer. Within two years, he was selling his own computer pro- gramsbymailordertocustomersthroughouttheUK. ChrisgraduatedwithaBSc(Hons)degreeinComputerSciencefrom Queen’sUniversity,Belfast,andaPhDdegreeinElectronicEngineer- ing from Dublin City University. After college, he was employed as a software consultant by Accenture and, later, as a senior researcher by Broadcom Éireann Research. Thereafter, he was appointed Vice PresidentofEngineeringatMassana,aleading-edgestart-upcompany developingintegratedcircuitsandsoftwarefordatacommunications. Today,ChrisisanAssociateProfessorandHeadoftheSchoolofCom- puter Science at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. He leads aresearchgroupfocusedoninventingnovelalgorithmsforanalysing real-world sensor data. His work has been published in leading peer- reviewedjournalsandpresentedatmajorinternationalconferences. ChrislivesinDublinwithhiswifeandtwochildren.